Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a new technology which holds promise as a treatment of psychiatric disorders. Most work to date has been on depression. Superiority to placebo has been indicated in three small blind studies. We compared the antidepressant effects of rTMS and ECT in 32 patients suffering major depressive episode (MDE) who had failed to respond to at least one course of medication. There was no limit to the number of treatment sessions which could be given and treatment was continued until remission occurred or response plateaued. A significant main effect for treatment type was found [Pillai trace = 0.248, F(3,28) = 3.076, p = 0.044; power = 0.656], reflecting an advantage for ECT patients on measures of depression overall, however, rTMS produced comparable results on a number of measures. Blind raters using the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) found the rate of remission (HDRS = ≤ 8) was the same (68.8%), and the percentage improvement over the course of treatment of 55.6% (rTMS) and 66.4% (ECT), while favouring ECT, was not significantly different. Significant differences were shown (p < 0.03) in percentage improvement on Beck Depression Inventory ratings (rTMS, 45.5%; ECT, 69.1%), but not for improvement in Visual Analogue ratings of mood (rTMS 42.3%; ECT, 57%). rTMS has antidepressant effects of useful proportions and further studies are indicated.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Psychology
Research Group:	Clinical and health psychology
Research Field:	Health psychology
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in philosophy and religious studies
UTAS Author:	Pridmore, S (Professor Saxby Pridmore)
UTAS Author:	Bruno, RB (Associate Professor Raimondo Bruno)
ID Code:	35432
Year Published:	2000
Web of Science® Times Cited:	100
Deposited By:	Psychology
Deposited On:	2005-08-01
Last Modified:	2011-10-11
Downloads:	0