Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in the treatment of depression: Effect of TMS on depression

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Woojae Myung and Doh Kwan Kim

Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Republic of Korea

: J Spine Neurosurg

Abstract

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Major depressions are very common and associated with considerable disability, morbidity, and mortality. Since SSRIs were initially developed in the mid-1980s, dozens of antidepressants have become popular in the world. However, initial pharmacologic interventions are ineffective in 30% of patients with major depression, and as many as 50-60% of depressed patients have incomplete recovery or a significant side effect burden with current medication. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) has been studied as a potential new treatment for drug-resistant depression. In this study, we evaluated the antidepressant efficacy of rTMS on drug-resistant depression. Twenty-two depressive patients was enrolled in the study. All the patients received 10 sessions of high frequency rTMS applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on 10 consecutive workdays. The clinical response of the patients was assessed at baseline and after every 5 sessions via the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAM-D), the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Clinical Global Impression scale. Antidepressant medication was maintained throughout the study period. HAM-D was administered by a single trained rater at weeks 0, 2, 4 and 6 after first rTMS treatment. At 6 weeks, response was defined according to standard conventions as ⩾ 50% decrease in the HAM-D score. Observed response rates were 50% (figure 1). The trajectories of HAM-D score in all subjects are presented in Figure. Our study showed that rTMS is effective to the patients with drug-resistant depression.

Biography

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Woojae Myung is an associate professor of Department of Neuropsychiatry at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Seongnam, South Korea. Woojae Myung published latest article in Journal of Alzheimers disease : JAD entitled Occupational Attainment as Risk Factor for Progression from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimers Disease: A CREDOS Study. This article is available in PubMed with an unique identification number PMID: 27662289 and it is published in 2017.

E-mail: wjmyung@snubh.org