TMS: Clinical Benefit Is Long-lasting

The fact that TMS is a very effective acute treatment for depression has long been established, but one lingering question has remained: how long do the effects last? In a study to determine the durability of the effects of TMS, a consortium of psychiatric researchers has found it to be an effective, long-term treatment for depression.

Results of the study, led by Philip G Janicak, MD, a professor at Chicago's Rush University Medical Center, were published in the October issue of the Journal of Brain Stimulation.

“This is the only prospective, maintenance, follow-up study which assesses the durability of acute TMS benefit in patients with major depression,” said Dr. Janicak.

In the study:

• 301 patients suffering from major depression were randomly assigned to receive active or sham TMS in an acute, six-week, controlled trial. 

• Patients who responded then underwent a three-week transition period where they were tapered off of active or sham TMS treatment and started on a standard antidepressant for maintenance. (After any successful acute treatment for depression, whether it is TMS, antidepressant medications, or electroconvulsive therapy, it is standard practice in most cases to introduce maintenance medication to lessen the chance of relapsing).

• Of those patients who received active TMS therapy and responded, 99 agreed to be followed for an additional 24-week period, during which only 10 patients relapsed.

In addition, TMS was successfully used as an intermittent rescue strategy to preclude impending relapse in 32 of 38 patients.

This means that:

• The therapeutic effects of TMS are long-lasting in the majority of acute responders, and

• Reintroduction of TMS is effective in preventing relapse.

“These results further support TMS as a viable treatment option for patients with major depression who have not responded to conventional antidepressant medications,” said Janicak.


This is an important study that underscores the fact that TMS produces long term improvement. Even so, the study looks at outcomes only for a period of 6 months. The TMS Center of New England is part of a multi-site, longitudinal outcomes study that aims to assess the durability of TMS over the course of 2 years.