Magnetic stimulation meets little resistance from the skin and bone and creates a much more localized stimulus with a lesser charge than ECT, says Dr. David Avery, UW professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, based at Harborview. Early results have shown that after TMS treatments, some patients have scored lower on a standard measure of clinical depression. Although we're at an early stage of this research, results thus far are promising. Patients with depression have been found to have lower metabolic activity in the frontal lobes of the brain than non-depressed persons. The localized TMS stimulus is directed at the frontal lobes and avoids memory centers.
Initial data show that TMS causes no memory loss.
TMS does not require anesthesia and can be administered on a daily basis. Subjects will be non-bipolar depressed patients who have failed to improve after taking medications or could not tolerate medications. The subjects must be willing and able to discontinue their current medication and not actively suicidal. The duration of their current episode of depression must be less than five years and they must be in good physical health with no history of seizure disorder. They must be right-handed and between the ages of 20 and 65.