2001 Volume 32 Issue 1 Pages 51-58
Single pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (sTMS) was performed in 23 patients with a diagnosis of Major Depressive Episode according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders 4th Edition (DSM-IV) diagnostic criteria, and clinical effects of this treatment were evaluated using the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Antidepressant dose levels were maintained without change from 1 month before sTMS until 15 days after treatment. Results showed that sTMS was associated with lower HAM-D scores in all but 1 of the treated patients. Effects of sTMS were favorable even for major and therapeutically problematic symptoms such as depressed mood, psychomotor retardation, feelings of excessive or inappropriate guilt, and suicidal ideation or attempted suicide. In addition, sTMS was found to be effective in the elderly and in patients who had undergone numerous Major Depressive Episodes. Such cases are ordinarily considered relatively refractory to treatment. No notable adverse reactions were observed in any of the patients treated. These results suggest that this treatment is as effective as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and that sTMS has broad applications for patients suffering from depression.
