Historic Brain Surgery to Treat Depression Performed on Woman in Colombia

Historic Brain Surgery to Treat Depression Performed on Woman in Colombia

On April 9, 2025, a new chapter in Colombia’s approach to mental health care unfolded quietly in a surgical room at the Hospital Internacional de Colombia, located in Bucaramanga. For the first time, doctors in the country performed a procedure known as Deep Brain Stimulation, or DBS, as a therapeutic alternative for a patient diagnosed with treatment-resistant depression. The surgery was carried out on Lorena Rodríguez Moreno, a 27-year-old woman from Garagoa in the department of Boyacá, whose experience with depression and anxiety began at the age of 17.

A Decade Without Answers

Rodríguez had spent more than ten years cycling through therapies, medications, and alternative treatments without success. She recalled during an interview with Vanguardia that her body rejected most medications and that she reached a point of physical and emotional exhaustion. “We had already tried everything: psychological therapies, changes in doctors, alternative therapies, and a long list of psychiatrists and medications that my body ended up rejecting. But nothing worked. I felt trapped in a tunnel with no way out,” she said.

Her condition worsened until, in December 2024, she experienced a particularly severe episode that left her emotionally depleted. “I felt like I had hit rock bottom,” she explained. It was then that she learned about a possibility that had never been explored in Colombia for her condition—a specialized brain surgery.

The First DBS for Depression in Colombia

The surgery involved implanting electrodes into targeted areas of the brain, which are then connected internally to a pulse generator placed in the chest. This device emits electrical impulses designed to modulate the brain activity associated with severe depression. The complex procedure was led by neurosurgeon William Contreras and supported by a team that included neurologists, psychiatrists, neuropsychologists, epidemiologists, and electrophysiologists such as Dr. Paula Millán and Dr. Juan Esteban Rosales.

Rodríguez remained awake for the entire six-hour procedure, an experience she described as both surreal and deeply personal. “I was awake for six hours during the surgery. It exceeded all fiction. I felt like my mind was being reprogrammed,” she shared.

Early Results and a New Outlook

Three months after the intervention, Rodríguez noticed significant changes in her daily life. Her motivation to engage with the world returned slowly but steadily. “I wanted to go to a shopping center again, to eat ice cream. I started putting on makeup again, dressing with excitement. It feels like I have been given a second chance,” she said.

Although full results from this type of procedure may take up to two years to fully materialize, Rodríguez already experiences meaningful improvement in her emotional well-being.

A Broader Message About Mental Health

Throughout her journey, Rodríguez has become an advocate for open conversations around mental health and professional care. She emphasized how the treatment she received was both respectful and centered on her as an individual rather than a diagnosis. “Today I celebrate the good days. I feel strong enough to study, to work, even to fall in love. These were things I could not even dream of before,” she told Vanguardia.

Her recovery continues to evolve, but what has already been set in motion signals that mental health care in Colombia is moving forward with purpose and precision.

Is it time for the rest of the world to catch up to what Colombia has already dared to do in mental health care?

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