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New therapy for treatment-resistant depression

The Depression Center and University of Michigan’s Department of Psychiatry are now offering a new option for the treatment of depression called Repetitive Transcrancial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS).

It is claimed that more than 30 percent of patients suffering from depression, do not benefit from or are intolerant of antidepressant medications. To counter this rTMS delivers highly-focused, pulsed magnetic energy to stimulate nerve cells in an area of the brain that is linked to depression. It is non-systemic (does not circulate in the bloodstream throughout the body) and non-invasive (does not involve surgery). The treatment is a 40-minute outpatient procedure prescribed by a psychiatrist that does not require anesthesia or sedation. Patients remain awake and alert while it happens. The treatment is typically administered daily for four to six weeks.

The University was part of a 300-patient international clinical trial from 2004-2005 that showed that rTMS was effective and safe in the treatment of depression in one in three patients. Over 10,000 treatments were safely performed as part of the study without the side effects that are sometimes seen with medication, which include weight gain, sexual dysfunction, nausea, dry mouth, and sedation. The most common adverse reaction related to treatment was pain or discomfort on the scalp during treatments. This side-effect was transient and mild to moderate in severity. The incidence of stimulation discomfort declined significantly after the first week of treatment.

This treatment may be particularly helpful for patients who have not responded to or cannot tolerate medications.

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