Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment-refractory major depressive disorder: A three-arm, blinded, randomized controlled trial.

Brain Stimul

Institute of Medical Science, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada; Krembil Research Institute, University Health Network, Toronto, Canada.

Published: August 2020

Background: Dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a novel intervention for treatment-refractory depression (TRD). To date, many open-label case series and one randomized controlled trial of modest sample size have provided preliminary evidence that DMPFC-rTMS is an effective treatment for TRD. Here, we report the results of a large, double-blinded, sham-controlled trial of DMPFC-rTMS for TRD.

Objective: The primary aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of DMPFC-rTMS for TRD under sham-controlled conditions.

Methods: 120 TRD patients were randomized to receive 30 twice-daily sessions of either active high-frequency, active low-frequency, or sham DMPFC-rTMS using a novel bent active/sham double-cone coil. Placebo stimulation also involved the use of surface electrodes placed above the eyebrows. The 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression served as the primary outcome measure.

Results: Although there was a significant main effect of treatment across all arms, active DMPFC-rTMS was not superior to sham. Both participants and assessors were unable to accuracy determine whether patients received active or placebo stimulation. However, technicians' treatment arm guesses were significantly above chance.

Conclusion: DMPFC rTMS did not result in improvement of depressive symptoms greater than sham stimulation. We cannot rule out that the sham apparatus may also have elicited an antidepressant effect via electrical trigeminal stimulation; future DMPFC-rTMS trials are therefore warranted.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2019.10.020DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

dorsomedial prefrontal
8
prefrontal cortex
8
repetitive transcranial
8
transcranial magnetic
8
magnetic stimulation
8
randomized controlled
8
controlled trial
8
placebo stimulation
8
stimulation
6
dmpfc-rtms
6

Similar Publications

Background: Self-regulation often is disrupted in depression and is characterized by negative affect and inflexible parasympathetic responses. Yet, our understanding of brain mechanisms of self-regulatory processes largely has been limited to laboratory contexts. Measuring individual differences in self-regulatory processes in everyday life - and their neural correlates - could inform our understanding of depression phenotypes and reveal novel intervention targets that impact everyday functioning.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has emerged as a promising treatment for various neuropsychiatric conditions, including depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and Parkinson's disease. Recent research has focused on evaluating its effectiveness in treating patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). This systematic review and meta-analysis examined the impact of TMS on patients with AN and evaluated any potential adverse effects.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The ability to infer a speaker's utterance within a particular context for the intended meaning is central to communication. Yet, little is known about the underlying neurocomputational mechanisms of pragmatic inference, let alone relevant differences among individuals. Here, using a reference game combined with model-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we showed that an individual-level pragmatic inference model was a better predictor of listeners' performance than a population-level model.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Peripheral neurofilament light chain and intracortical myelin in bipolar I disorder.

J Affect Disord

January 2025

Centre for Clinical Neurosciences, McMaster University, Canada; Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada; Mood Disorders Treatment and Research Centre and Women's Health Concerns Clinic, St. Joseph's Healthcare Hamilton, ON, Canada. Electronic address:

Background: Neurofilament light chain (NfL) is a cytoskeletal protein that supports neuronal structure. Blood NfL levels are reported to be higher in diseases where myelin is damaged. Studies investigating intracortical myelin (ICM) in bipolar disorder (BD) have reported deficits in ICM maturation over age.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Witnessing rejection against one's group can have similar impacts on psychological distress and aggression as experiencing rejection personally. In this study, we investigated the neural activity patterns of group rejection and whether they resemble those of personal-level rejection. We first identified the neural correlates of social rejection (exclusion based on negative attention) compared with ostracism (exclusion based on lack of social connection) and then compared group-level to personal-level rejection.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!