Psychiatric treatment has long been plagued by the lack of a clinically useful biomarker to guide treatment. As a result, psychiatric treatment has lead to the trial and error process that typifies psychiatric treatment. In addition to the tremendous additional morbidity and mortality, the subjective nature of psychiatric treatment is very costly. A tool that could put treatment-refractory patients or even treatment-naive patients on an effective medication regimen directly and immediately would save a tremendous amount of money.
The referenced EEG is a new model for 21st century psychiatric treatment that provides a clinically useful biomarker (equivalent to an EKG) to predict and guide treatment. Medication recommendations are made on the basis of the abnormal quantitative EEG and not on the basis of the DSM symptom-based classification. This innovative technology, developed by CNS Response, Inc., has shown great promise: early research has shown that rEEG has been more than 80% effective in guiding treatment in patients with a range of psychiatric diagnoses including major depressive, bipolar, attention deficit, anxiety, and eating disorders.
The problem with the DSM symptom-based treatment is the trial and error process. It can take up to a year or more to find the appropriate medications. Sometimes there is only a partial or no response. The referenced EEG can guide a physician to put a treatment refractory or a treatment naive patient immediately on an appropriate treatment regimen.
The referenced EEG analysis is not valid for patients who are less than 6 years of age or greater than 90 years of age. I.M. depo-neuroleptic therapy in the past 12 months, history of CVA or craniotomy, spikes on the quantitative (conventional) EEG, current diagnosis of seizure disorder, dementia, or mental retardation, significant abnormalities of the CBC, chemistry, or thyroid function tests including TSH, current uses of marijuana, cocaine, hallucinogens, alcohol, or other drugs of abuse in the last 3 days.
The rEEG is useful for patients with affective, attention deficit, eating, post-traumatic stress, and addiction disorders.
The rEEG is a strongly recommended tool for treatment-resistant patients. Patients must be taken off of all medications for 5 half lives before the test is administered.
Procedure
A standard EEG reading is taken while the patient is awake. There is absolutely no pain or any other sensation in this 30-45 minute procedure. The patient has nothing to do but relax without falling asleep. The resultant digital EEG is first compared to average EEG values of people of the same age to determine the presence of any significant variations in brain processing and electro-chemical imbalance. Once these imbalances are defined, a separate outcomes database reflecting over 10,000 medication treatment episodes is then querried for patients having similar imbalances. The treatment success and failure of those patients are then reported back to the physician so that this experience can guide selection of medications. For example if the database tells us that no patients with the specific imbalances present in Ms. Jones reading have ever responded well to Prozac or Zoloft, it is reasonable to think that neither will Ms. Jones. We can save Ms. Jones a great deal of grief by avoiding those. However, if most patients with Ms. Jones readings responded well to a combination of Wellbutrin and Lamictal then this combination will be seriously considered.
Conventional psychiatric drug treatment can take up to a year or more
to find the right medication treatment regimen. Through the power of
the referenced EEG system the right medication can be found within weeks.
Dr. William T. Richardson, Medical Director for Alpha Behavioral Care
shared the following example. “I have seen a middle-aged married
female who suffered from life long chronic depression. In spite of psychotherapy,
Wellbutrin, Cymbalta, Xanax, Zoloft, and SAM-e, she was not helped. The
rEEG test recommended Depakote. Within one week her depressive symptoms
vanished. To date she has been maintained on supportive psychotherapy
and a small amount of Depakote. She is doing very well”.
