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| |  Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Shows Durability While on Maintenance Therapy: Presented at APA By Ed Susman NEW ORLEANS -- May 29, 2010 -- Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) therapy in patients with pharmacotherapy-resistant major depression appears to provide lasting control of the disease over a 24-week period, researchers said here at the 2010 Annual Meeting of the American Psychiatric Association (APA). The study followed patients who had benefited from active or sham TMS therapy in a randomised 6-week clinical trial and determined that the use of the treatment modality could be used intermittently along with antidepressant medications for longer-term maintenance of effect in patients with major depressive disorder, according to the researchers. "It is worth noting that, when contrasted to those patients who had benefited from active acute TMS treatment, the sham responders showed a slightly higher risk of relapse, a greater incidence of symptom re-emergence, and slightly poorer response to TMS reintroduction," said Philip G. Janicak, MD, Rush University School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, during a poster presentation on May 26. In the original study, researchers enrolled 301 individuals into the study in which patients were treated with either a sham procedure or active TMS, which uses powerful, briefly-pulsed, magnetic resonance imaging-strength magnetic fields to induce electrical current in the cerebral cortex The researchers invited 99 patients who benefited from the active procedure to participate in the open-label extension of the study and also recruited 21 of the patients who benefited from the sham procedure. Of the 99 patients who had received benefit, 38 showed symptom deterioration and underwent additional TMS treatment. Of that group, 32 benefited from the procedure. The mean time to the first reintroduction session was 109 days. The mean number of reintroduction sessions was 14.3. Overall, Dr. Janicak said 10 of the 99 active TMS patients suffered a relapse of major depressive disorder; 3 of the 21 former sham patients experienced a clinical relapse. Among the patients who had benefited from the sham therapy, 11 experienced symptom worsening and underwent active TMS therapy. Of that group, 5 of the patients benefited from the treatment. The mean time to reintroduction sessions was 116 days. The mean number of reintroduction sessions was 15.2. Funding for this study was provided by Neuronetics, Inc. [Presentation title: Long-Term Durability of Acute Response to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Treatment of Pharmacoresistant Major Depression. Abstract NR7-46]
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