Klein and coworkers administered sTMS with a 9-cm round coil over the RDLPFC at 1 Hz and 110% MT.The authors administered two trains of 60 magnetic pulses each separated by a 3-min interval. The TMS course was given daily for 10 days. The authors found that, over 50% of the sTMStreated patients, but only 25% of the sham sTMS-treated patients (ie, a significant difference)

achieved a greater than 50% decrease in the Hamilton rating scale for depression (HRSD) score during the trial. Studies with rTMS Following the introduction of rTMS, an increasing number of studies using rTMS in the treatment of depression Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical are being published. George et al31 published the first study using rTMS in medication -resistant MDD. These authors administered rTMS over the LDLPFC at 80% MT and 20 Hz for 5 sessions. They described a 26% decrease in HRSD score. Two other studies of that period merit, particular discussion because of the impact they have had on the field. Pascual

Leone et al32 published the first sham TMS/rTMS comparison in depressed psychotic patients. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical They tested the effects of rTMS (real Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and sham) on 16 patients at various scalp coil positions (LDLPFC, RDLPFC, and vertex). The sham coil was held at a 45°. In a crossover stud, Pascual Leone et al administered one form of treatment daily for 5 days only and then observed the patients for 3 weeks. Only stimulation of the LDLPFC led to significant, improvements in depression rating scales, and these lasted for approximately 2 weeks. Although there has been significant discussion regarding the methodology of this study, there can be no argument about, the impact this publication has

had on the field of rTMS. This Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical landmark paper led to an explosion of studies in depression. Shortly thereafter, George et al33 published a doubleblind, single crossover, sham-controlled study of 12 patients with MDD, using the same parameters reported in their previous study. They found a modest, decrease of 26% in HRSD score with real rTMS over the 2 weeks of the study. Over the following years, a number of important studies were published, some of them supporting the selleck inhibitor antidepressant effects of rTMS and others finding that there was no difference from placebo or, at best, that there were mild antidepressant effects.32-43 During the year 2000, three relatively large studies (Grunhaus et al,38 George et al,37 and Pridmore et unless al42) have reported significant antidepressant effects for rTMS administered over the LDLPFC. George et al conducted a parallel, double-masked, sham-controlled study of rTMS over the LDLPFC in patients with nondelusional MDD.37 They studied 30 patients with M.DD (21 unipolar and 9 bipolar), who were in the midst of an episode of illness. Patients were assigned to either the active or sham groups, and to either a 5-Hz or a 20-Hz group.