Pittsburgh, January 18, 2010 --Douglas Kondziolka, MD, Peter J. Jannetta Professor of Neurosurgery, was featured in a January 17 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article looking into how deep brain stimulation may help patients suffering from chronic depression.

[Read: Brain surgery tries to quiet 'sadness center']

The article takes a look at a local Blair County man who was suffering from depression for over 30 years. He had taken a "raft of antidepressant medications, was admitted to mental hospitals five or six times and underwent 30 to 40 electroshock treatments" with little success.

After undergoing the experimental DBS surgery this past summer, the patient noticed immediate positive results. "I noticed a difference the first time they tested it," he related in the article. "I felt on top of the world, and everybody saw it. Everybody at home noticed the difference, too."

The surgery is part of a multi-center trial involving about 30 patients to determine if the procedure is safe. If the Food and Drug Administration grants approval, the trial will be expanded to hundreds of patients nationwide.