Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a useful clinical tool that is effective in patients with treatment-resistant depression.
This noninvasive treatment is an option for patients with depression who have not found relief from other treatments, such as psychotherapy and antidepressants.
TMS technology was developed in 1985 and has been gaining clinical interest since then. Two-thirds of TMS patients experienced either full remission of their depression symptoms or noticeable improvements.
This out-patient procedure does not have serious side effects.
Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2008, TMS uses an alternating current passed through a metal coil placed against the scalp to generate rapidly alternating magnetic fields. These pass through the skull nearly unimpeded and induce electric currents that depolarize neurons in a focal area of the surface cortex.
The magnetic field generated by TMS is comparable to that of a standard magnetic resonance imaging device (MRI), measured at approximately 1.5 to 3 Teslas. However, the TMS field is focal (beneath the coil), whereas the MRI field is large and fills the room housing the MRI device.
One hypothesis on how TMS works is that the stimulation of discrete cortical regions alters pathologic activity within a network of gray matter brain regions, specifically those involved in mood regulation and connected to the targeted cortical sites. Functional imaging studies support this hypothesis by showing TMS can change activity in brain regions remote from the site of stimulation.
TMS has many molecular effects, including increased monoamine turnover and normalization of the hypothalamic pituitary axis. Additionally, in one neuroimaging study of depressed patients, a prefrontal serotonin deficiency at baseline normalized after treatment with TMS.
High-frequency stimulation is thought to excite the targeted neurons and is typically used to activate the left prefrontal cortex.
Theta Burst Stimulation (TBS) is a form of TMS. Here, the magnetic pulses are applied in a certain pattern, called bursts. Research studies with TBS have been shown to produce similar if not greater effects on brain activity compared to standard repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation ( rTMS).
Conventional TMS procedures typically last up to 37 minutes per session whereas TBS can go down to as little as a few minutes' duration.
Copyright © 2024 BrightSide Psych - All Rights Reserved.
Powered by GoDaddy
We use cookies to analyze website traffic and optimize your website experience. By accepting our use of cookies, your data will be aggregated with all other user data.