RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 A Double-Blind Pilot Dosing Study of Low Field Magnetic Stimulation (LFMS) for Treatment-Resistant Depression (TRD)
JF bioRxiv
FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
SP 465013
DO 10.1101/465013
A1 Marc J. Dubin
A1 Irena Ilieva
A1 Zhi-De Deng
A1 Jeena Thomas
A1 Ashly Cochran
A1 Kamilla Kravets
A1 Benjamin D. Brody
A1 Paul J. Christos
A1 James H. Kocsis
A1 Conor Liston
A1 Faith M. Gunning
YR 2018
UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2018/11/09/465013.abstract
AB Low Field Magnetic Stimulation is a potentially rapid-acting treatment for depression with mood-enhancing effects in as little as one 20-minute session. The most convincing data for LFMS has come from treating bipolar depression. We examined whether LFMS also has rapid mood-enhancing effects in treatment-resistant major depressive disorder, and whether these effects are dose-dependent. We hypothesized that a single 20-min session of LFMS would reduce depressive symptom severity and that the magnitude of this change would be greater after three 20-min sessions than after a single 20-min session. In a double-blind randomized controlled trial, 30 participants (age 21–65) with treatment-resistant depression were randomized to three 20-minute active or sham LFMS treatments with 48 hours between treatments. Response was assessed immediately following LFMS treatment using the 6-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-6), the Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS) and the Visual Analog Scale. Following the third session of LFMS, the effect of LFMS on VAS and HAMD-6 was superior to sham (F(1, 24) = 7.45, p = 0.03, Holm-Bonferroni corrected; F(1,22) = 6.92, p = 0.03, Holm-Bonferroni corrected, respectively). There were no differences between sham and LFMS following the initial or second session with the effect not becoming significant until after the third session. Three 20-minute LFMS sessions were required for active LFMS to have a mood-enhancing effect for individuals with treatment-resistant depression. As this effect may be transient, future work should address dosing schedules of longer treatment course as well as biomarker-based targeting of LFMS to optimize patient selection and treatment outcomes.