Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
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Neuropsychopharmacology · Oct 2002
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialRepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in major depression: relation between efficacy and stimulation intensity.
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been found to exert modest to substantial antidepressant effects in the majority of prior clinical studies. As effect sizes and stimulation conditions have varied greatly, controversy persists regarding effective stimulation parameters (e.g. intensity, frequency, localization). In the present controlled study, we investigated whether the antidepressant efficacy of rTMS may be related to the stimulation intensity applied. ⋯ A 30% to 33% reduction of baseline depression scores was observed after rTMS at MT intensity. Similarly, groups differed significantly regarding the clinical course after rTMS with the lowest number of antidepressant interventions and the shortest hospital stay in the MT intensity group. These findings support the hypothesis of a relationship between stimulation intensity of rTMS and its antidepressant efficacy.