Connect
MJA
MJA

Transcranial magnetic stimulation: an item number is justified

Saxby Pridmore
Med J Aust 2018; 208 (11): . || doi: 10.5694/mja17.00849
Published online: 18 June 2018

Evidence shows that transcranial magnetic stimulation is a safe and effective treatment for drug-resistant depression

Depression is the leading cause of disability globally.1 The condition is painful for the patient (and may end in suicide), distressing for relatives and friends and challenging to clinicians. One-third of patients with depression do not respond to the first antidepressant medication, the likelihood of achieving remission diminishes with each additional medication, and one-third will not respond to any known medication.2


  • University of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS


Correspondence: s.pridmore@utas.edu.au

Competing interests:

No relevant disclosures.

  • 1. World Health Organization The global burden of disease: 2004 update. Geneva: WHO; 2008. http://www.who.int/healthinfo/global_burden_disease/2004_report_update/en/index.html (viewed Aug 2017).
  • 2. Rush AJ, Trivedi MH, Wisniewski SR, et al. Acute and longer-term outcomes in depressed outpatients requiring one or several treatment steps: a STAR*D report. Am J Psychiatry 2006; 163: 1905-1917.
  • 3. George MS, Wassermann EM, Williams WA, et al. Daily repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) improves mood in depression. Neuroreport 1995; 6: 1853-1856.
  • 4. Lefaucheur J-P, André-Obadia N, Antal A, et al. Evidence-based guidelines on the therapeutic use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Clin Neurophysiol 2014; 125: 2150-2206.
  • 5. Loo CK, Mitchell PB, Corker VM, et al. Double-blind controlled investigation of bilateral prefrontal transcranial magnetic stimulation for the treatment of resistant major depression. Psychol Med 2003; 33: 33-40.
  • 6. Fitzgerald PB, Brown TL, Marston NA, et al. Transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of depression: a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Arch Gen Psychiatry 2003; 60: 1002-1008.
  • 7. Milev R, Giacobbe P, Kennedy SH, et al. Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) 2016 clinical guidelines for the management of adults with major depressive disorder: section 4. Neurostimulation treatments. Can J Psychiatry 2016; 61: 561-575.
  • 8. Magnezi R, Aminov E, Shmuel D, et al. Comparison between neurostimulation techniques repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation vs electroconvulsive therapy for the treatment of resistant depression: patient preference and cost-effectiveness. Patient Prefer Adherence 2016; 10: 1481-1487.
  • 9. Kozel FA, George MS, Simpson KN. Decision analysis of the cost-effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation versus electroconvulsive therapy for treatment of nonpsychotic severe depression. CNS Spectr 2004; 9: 476-482.
  • 10. Zhao YJ, Tor PC, Khoo AL, et al. Cost-effectiveness modelling of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation compared to electroconvulsive therapy for treatment-resistant depression in Singapore. Neuromodulation 2017. doi:10.1111/ner.12723. [Epub ahead of print].
  • 11. Galletly CA, Clarke P, Carnell BL, Gill S. A clinical repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation service: 6 years on. Aust N Z J Psychiatry 2014; 49: 1040-1047.
  • 12. McClintock SM, Reti IM, Carpenter LL, et al. Consensus recommendations for the clinical application of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in the treatment of depression. J Clin Psychiatry 2018; 79: 16cs10905.

Author

remove_circle_outline Delete Author
add_circle_outline Add Author

Comment
Do you have any competing interests to declare? *

I/we agree to assign copyright to the Medical Journal of Australia and agree to the Conditions of publication *
I/we agree to the Terms of use of the Medical Journal of Australia *
Email me when people comment on this article

Online responses are no longer available. Please refer to our instructions for authors page for more information.