Cited by 18Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation StudiesTreatment of Major DepressionElectroconvulsive Therapy Studies

High frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment for major depression: dissociated effects on psychopathology and neurocognition

Open access
Tovar-Perdomo, Santiago, McGirr, Alexander, Van den Eynde, Frederique, Rodrigues dos Santos, Nicole, Berlim, Marcelo T.·2017·Journal of Affective Disorders

Abstract

Objectives This open-label pilot study explored the effects of a course of accelerated high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) on two neurocognitive domains (decision-making and impulse control) in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Methods Participants with MDD and a treatment resistant major depressive episode (n=24) underwent twice-daily HF-rTMS targeted at the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC) over two weeks. Psychopathology was assessed by clinician-administered and self-reported measures of depression and anxiety; decision-making was assessed by the Iowa Gambling Task, the Balloon Analog Risk Task and the Game of Dice Task; impulse control was assessed by the Stroop Color-Word Task, the Continuous Performance Task and the Stop-Signal Task. Results Depression and anxiety scores significantly improved from pre-post HF-rTMS treatment. However, none of the decision-making or impulse control variables of interest changed significantly from pre-post HF-rTMS. Moreover, there was no correlation between changes in psychopathological symptoms and in neurocognition. Limitations This is a moderately sized open label trial, and the confounds of ongoing psychotropics and illness chronicity can not be excluded in this treatment resistant sample. Conclusions There is dissociation between acute symptomatic benefit after a course of accelerated HF-rTMS applied to the lDLPFC in treatment resistant MDD and performance on tests of decision making and impulse control. Though rTMS appears cognitively safe, additional research is warranted to understand this potential dissociation and its putative clinical implications.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jad.2017.03.075

Cites

62 of 67 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • There is some indication of increased adherence and faster treatment response for accelerated iTBS compared to conventional rTMS.

    “with some indication of increased adherence and faster treatment response compared to conventional rTMS [22–25].”

    From A phase I trial of accelerated intermittent theta burst rTMS for amnestic MCI (2024) · cites this paper as [22]

    The rTMS Procedure passage (page unavailable) describes twice-daily high-frequency rTMS, and Psychopathology pre-post HF-rTMS reports symptom improvement by week 3. Neither passage compares accelerated iTBS with conventional rTMS or reports comparative adherence or response speed. Searches for iTBS, adherence, and faster comparative response found no passage addressing that claim. (LLM, conf=0.77)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 4

  1. Baxter, L. R., Jr., Schwartz, J. M., Phelps, M. E., Mazziotta, J. C., Guze, B. H., Selin, C. E., . . . Sumida, R. M. (1989). Reduction of prefrontal cortex glucose metabolism common to three types of depression. Arch Gen Psychiatry, 46(3), 243-250.
  2. Drevets, W. C., Videen, T. O., Price, J. L., Preskorn, S. H., Carmichael, S. T., & Raichle, M. E. (1992). A functional anatomical study of unipolar depression. J Neurosci, 12(9), 3628-3641.
  3. Dunner, D. L., Rush, A. J., Russell, J. M., Burke, M., Woodard, S., Wingard, P., & Allen, J. (2006). Prospective, long-term, multicenter study of the naturalistic outcomes of patients with treatment-resistant depression. J Clin Psychiatry, 67(5), 688-695.
  4. Fuster, J. M. (2015). The Prefrontal Cortex (Fourth ed.): Academic Press London.

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Tovar-Perdomo, S., McGirr, A., Van den Eynde, F., Rodrigues dos Santos, N., & Berlim, M. T.
Affiliations
  • Douglas Mental Health University Institute (CA)
  • University of British Columbia (CA)
Corresponding author
Berlim, Marcelo T.
Venue
Journal of Affective Disorders
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2017-08
Volume
217
Pages
112-117
ISSN
0165-0327 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2605066774
Cited by
18
References
64
Citations by year
2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 1
FWCI
1.09
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Affective Disorders (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • eScholarship@McGill (McGill) (submittedVersion)
  • McGill-DEV
Funders
Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Electroconvulsive Therapy Studies
Keywords
high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, major depressive disorder, treatment-resistant depression, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, decision-making, impulse control, neurocognitive function, psychopathology, anxiety, cognitive safety
MeSH terms
Adult, Depressive Disorder, Major, Major Depressive Disorder, Dissociative Disorders, Female, Humans, Iowa, Male, Middle Aged, Pilot Projects, Psychopathology, Prefrontal Cortex, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review