Abstract
Depression is a disorder that is prone to relapse and recurrence, and a therapeutic strategy is needed after acute treatment. Especially in treatment‐resistant depression, the establishment of continuous / maintenance therapy (hereinafter referred to as maintenance therapy) to prevent relapse / recurrence is an urgent issue. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non‐invasive technique that stimulates the cerebral cortex and modifies its excitability, and has been demonstrated to be effective in treatment‐resistant depression from several clinical trials and meta‐analyses to date. A meta‐analysis of the long‐term effects of rTMS therapy has shown that maintenance rTMS therapy is useful as a treatment option to prevent relapse and recurrence after acute rTMS therapy. The authors’ group delivered 6 weeks of acute rTMS therapy to patients with treatment‐resistant depression and introduced 12 months of maintenance rTMS therapy for 2 patients in remission and reported the usefulness of maintenance rTMS therapy. Finally, we give an overview of a multicenter, prospective, non‐randomized longitudinal study to aim at standardizing and insuring maintenance rTMS therapy, which is currently under preparation.
