2023-11-21 20:30:00
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), which is attracting attention as a non-invasive treatment for depression, is emerging as a major option as evidence continues to build.
As real-world data continues to accumulate, it is becoming a major treatment strategy. However, experts believe that a variety of evaluation scales should be used as the treatment effect may vary depending on the evaluation scale.
Research results have shown that in order to confirm the exact treatment effect of TMS, various evaluation scales must be applied.
On the 21st local time, the results of a comparative study between the clinical effectiveness of TMS and evaluation scales were published in the international journal Psychiatry Research (10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115608).
TMS, also called transcranial magnetic stimulation, is a device that produces a therapeutic effect by non-invasively stimulating nerve cells in the brain by generating a magnetic field.
Starting with depression, the indications have now expanded to include Parkinson’s disease and are now being added as a major option for brain diseases.
In particular, recent studies have shown that TMS is very effective in patients who do not respond to antidepressants, and its use is increasing.
This is also the background to the follow-up study conducted by researchers led by UCLA professor Michael K. Leuchter.
This is to check how effective TMS is in patients who do not respond to antidepressants, as well as whether there are differences in each evaluation scale.
Accordingly, the researchers analyzed the treatment results of 708 people who received TMS treatment for an average of 6 weeks using four depression rating scales.
As a result, it was confirmed that the effects of TMS were applied faster than in past studies. The treatment effect began to appear within a week just by receiving TMS for 20 to 30 minutes every day for 5 days a week.
The treatment effect was also similar. Unlike past studies that reported treatment effectiveness in the 30-40% range, 54% of patients showed a clinical response with improvement in depression.
In particular, given that these results are the result of applying a total of four evaluation scales, it is evaluated that the reliability of the treatment effect of TMS has increased.
Most past studies used only the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) or Depression Rating Scale (IDS).
Professor Michael Reuter said, “Through this study, we found that TMS was effective very quickly compared to past research results and showed a clinical response of up to 54% in various evaluation scales. This is important evidence supporting the usefulness of TMS. “He explained.
However, the researchers explain that caution is needed in that the treatment effect of TMS may differ to some extent depending on the evaluation scale.
If only one evaluation scale is used, as in the past, the treatment effect may appear to be inflated or reduced compared to what it actually is.
In fact, when the researchers applied the Depression Inventory Scale (IDS), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ), Mood Rating (POMS), and Depression Symptom Scale (HDRS) to patients, the degree of clinical response showed a large difference, ranging from 30% to 50%.
Additionally, the clinical remission rate differed by at least 20 to 24%. Because of this, when only a single scale is used for the clinical outcome of TMS, excluding other factors, the risk of not detecting a response or remission that may occur with other scales was analyzed to be up to 36%.
Professor Michael Reuter said, “The treatment effect of TMS on various aspects of depression can be closely analyzed by using a variety of evaluation scales rather than a single scale.” device,” he said.
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