ABSTRACT
A growing number of studies report antidepressant effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in patients with major depression. The hypothesis that high frequency (20 Hz) rTMS (HF-rTMS) may speed up and strengthen the therapeutic response to sertraline in MD was tested. Twenty eight patients who had not yet received medication for the present depressive episode (n=12) or had failed a single trial of an antidepressant medication (n=16) were started on sertraline and randomised to receive either real of sham HF-rTMS. HF-rTMS was applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal area in daily sessions (30 trains of 2 s, 20-40 s intertrain interval, at 90% motor threshold) on 10 consecutive working days. The results suggest that in this patient population, HF-rTMS does not add efficacy over the use of standard antidepressant medication.
Subject(s)
Depressive Disorder, Major/therapy , Electric Stimulation Therapy , Electromagnetic Fields , Prefrontal Cortex/physiopathology , Adult , Combined Modality Therapy , Depressive Disorder, Major/physiopathology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Sertraline/administration & dosageABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Controverted results have been obtained using high frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) as an antidepressant treatment. METHODS: Forty patients suffering from drug-resistant major depression received ten sessions of HF-rTMS at 90% of the motor threshold on the left prefrontal cortex or sham stimulation, added to their pharmacological treatment, in a randomized double-blind design. In a second open phase, patients still fulfilling criteria of inclusion received ten additional sessions of HF-rTMS at 90 or 110%. RESULTS: Real, but not sham HF-rTMS, was associated with a significant decrease in the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, but only twelve patients decreased more than 50%. CONCLUSIONS: Left prefrontal HF-rTMS was effectively associated with antidepressant treatment, although the size effect was small. LIMITATIONS: Shortage of the sample and control difficulties of the placebo effect. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Questionable in more than half of the patients studied.
