High frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) has shown safety and efficacy for treatment-resistant depression, but requires daily treatment for 4-6 weeks. Accelerated HF-TMS (aHF-rTMS), in which all treatments are delivered in less time, would have significant advantages in terms of access, patient acceptance and costs. In the present open label trial the investigators intend to assess the effectiveness and acceptability of a novel aHF-rTMS protocol (i.e., 2 daily sessions over 2 consecutive weeks; 6,000 pulses per day). For this, depressed outpatients will receive the aHF-rTMS protocol and will be assessed at baseline and at weeks 3 and 9 with several clinician- and patient- reported measures as well as with computerized neurocognitive tests.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
20
Twice daily rTMS sessions involving 10 Hz in 75 trains of 4 seconds duration, with 26 seconds intertrain intervals (6,000 pulses per day) at 120% of the resting motor threshold.
Douglas Mental Health University Institute
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology - Clinician Version
Response to treatment is defined as a ≥ 50% reduction in the scores of the QIDS-C. Remission is defined as a QIDS-C score ≤ 5.
Time frame: Week 3
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