Ybrain, an electronic medicine company announced the launch of MindSteam Pro, a more advanced version of their home depression treatment device, MindSteam.
MindSteam is South Korea's first home-use device for treating depression. It works by using a headset to send a small electric current (transcranial direct current stimulation, or tDCS) to the brain, helping to improve brain function and reduce symptoms of depression. Unlike antidepressants, it’s a wearable device, which means fewer side effects and can even be used for perinatal depression.
The new MindSteam Pro offers even more convenience for home use. Patients can now complete a 30-minute session per day for six weeks. In a clinical trial at six medical centers in Korea, the device showed a 62.8% improvement in treating major depressive symptoms, with patients’ depression scores improving by nearly 48%.
MindSteam Pro comes with a 15-inch touchscreen kiosk, six basic treatment modules, and a personal set of consumables. Clinicians can enter a patient’s prescription into the kiosk, and the patient can take the right module home. The new device triples the number of treatment modules compared to the original, making it easier for hospitals to treat more patients at once.
Since 2023, MindSteam has been available in hospitals across Korea as a non-reimbursed treatment and is currently used in 174 hospitals, with over 220,000 prescriptions given.
Executive Statement
According to Lee Gi-won, CEO of Ybrain, the reason the number of modules increased in this new product is that, with the existing Mindsteam, the higher the number of modules, the higher the proportion of home treatment through out-of-hospital prescriptions. Mindsteam Pro goes beyond a simple therapeutic device to serve as a core solution that accelerates the digital transformation of psychiatric hospitals and realizes a patient-centered treatment environment, maximizing hospital operational efficiency.