Second-order morphometric similarity networks predict response to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in major depressive disorder: a two-center study - Takeaways - MDSpire

Second-order morphometric similarity networks predict response to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in major depressive disorder: a two-center study

  • By

  • Chunchen Liu

  • Yu Xiong

  • Tianjiao Xu

  • Jifei Sun

  • Yue Ma

  • Jun Liu

  • Weihui Li

  • Yaxuan Xu

  • Meng Zhao

  • Jiudong Cao

  • Yukang Zhang

  • Lei Zhang

  • Jiazheng Li

  • Xiaoling Wang

  • Xin Wang

  • Kai Sun

  • Changbin Yu

  • Jiliang Fang

  • July 8, 2026

  • 0 min

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  • 1

    Transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) is explored as a treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) with varying patient responses.

  • 2

    Second-order morphometric similarity networks (MSN-II) were evaluated as predictive biomarkers for treatment response to taVNS in MDD.

  • 3

    The study involved 122 antidepressant-free MDD patients, with structural MRI assessments before and after 8 weeks of taVNS.

  • 4

    MSN-II demonstrated significant predictive performance for treatment response, outperforming other conventional neuroimaging measures.

  • 5

    The left orbitofrontal cortex area 13 (L_OFC_A13) was identified as the strongest predictor of treatment response among the analyzed features.

Original Source(s)

Second-order morphometric similarity networks predict response to transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation in major depressive disorder: a two-center study

  • by Chunchen Liu, Yu Xiong, Tianjiao Xu, Jifei Sun, Yue Ma, Jun Liu, Weihui Li, Yaxuan Xu, Meng Zhao, Jiudong Cao, Yukang Zhang, Lei Zhang, Jiazheng Li, Xiaoling Wang, Xin Wang, Kai Sun, Changbin Yu, Jiliang Fang

  • July 8, 2026

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