An evaluation of factors affecting duration of treatment with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effects of repetitive transcranialmagnetic stimulation in patients with major depression who weresubmitted to this treatment during the period from 2000 to 2006.Methods: A retrospective study with 204 patients who underwenttreatment with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, collectingdata from those who experienced remission (defined as a HDRS scoreequal to or lower than 7). The patients were followed for up to 6 monthsafter treatment. Mean duration of remission for this cohort of patientswas 70.2 (± 58.4) days. Results: The only variable associated withthe duration of remission in the linear regression model was numberof repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation sessions. Conclusion:Our findings suggest that the greater the number of sessions, the longerthe duration of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation effects.Consequently, future research investigating the effects of repetitivetranscranial magnetic stimulation should explore this variable in orderto maximize the therapeutic effects of this new brain stimulationtechnique.

Keywords

• Depression/therapy
• Deep brain stimulation
• Transcranial magnetic stimulation
• Risk factors