Klein E, Kreinin I, Chistyakov A, Koren D, Mecz L, Marmur S, Ben-Shachar D, Feinsod M
Department of Psychiatry, Rambam Medical Center, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa.
Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1999 Apr;56(4):315-20. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.56.4.315.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a noninvasive technique for stimulation of the brain, has recently been suggested to be effective for the treatment of major depression. We conducted a double-blind, placebo-controlled study to assess the efficacy of slow repetitive TMS (rTMS) in patients with major depression.
Seventy patients with major depression (53 women, 17 men; mean age, 58.7 years; SD, 17.2 years) were randomly assigned to receive rTMS or sham rTMS in a double-blind design. Treatment was administered in 10 daily sessions during a 2-week period. Severity of depression was blindly assessed before, during, and after completion of the treatment protocol.
All patients completed the first week of treatment and 67 completed the entire protocol. Patients who received rTMS had a significantly greater improvement in depression scores compared with those who received sham treatment. At the end of 2 weeks, 17 of 35 patients in the rTMS group, but only 8 of 32 in the sham-treated group, had an improvement of greater than 50% in their depression ratings.
This controlled study provides evidence for the short-term efficacy of slow rTMS in patients with recurrent major depression. Additional studies will be necessary to assess the efficacy of rTMS as compared with electroconvulsive therapy as well as the long-term outcome of this treatment in major depression and possibly other psychiatric disorders.
经颅磁刺激（TMS）是一种用于刺激大脑的非侵入性技术，最近有人提出它对治疗重度抑郁症有效。我们进行了一项双盲、安慰剂对照研究，以评估慢重复经颅磁刺激（rTMS）对重度抑郁症患者的疗效。
70例重度抑郁症患者（53名女性，17名男性；平均年龄58.7岁；标准差17.2岁）被随机分配，以双盲设计接受rTMS或假rTMS治疗。在2周内每天进行10次治疗。在治疗方案开始前、治疗期间和结束后，对抑郁症的严重程度进行盲法评估。
所有患者完成了第一周的治疗，67例完成了整个治疗方案。与接受假治疗的患者相比，接受rTMS治疗的患者抑郁评分改善更为显著。在2周结束时，rTMS组35例患者中有17例，而假治疗组32例中只有8例抑郁评分改善超过50%。
这项对照研究为慢rTMS对复发性重度抑郁症患者的短期疗效提供了证据。有必要进行更多研究，以评估rTMS与电休克治疗相比的疗效，以及该治疗方法对重度抑郁症及可能的其他精神障碍的长期疗效。
