High-Frequency and Low-Intensity Patterned Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation over Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex as Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder: A Report of 3 Cases

" While each patient presented a different clinical background, all three patients showed sharp changes in their self-report and in the standardized clinical assessments. The mechanisms responsible for the observed clinical changes in these patients are almost certainly different from those produced by classical TMS devices. The pulse intensity applied by this device is several orders of magnitude lower than the one required to generate a motor evoked potential, so direct depolarization of neurons does not seem like a viable mechanism of the observed antidepressant effect [10]. Even if there is no direct depolarization of neurons, magnetic pulses at a low subthreshold intensity and relatively high frequency have demonstrated to change cortical excitability [11], modify brain metabolism [12], and change neurocognitive function in humans [13]. How does these kinds of magnetic fields modify the brain’s activity is not completely understood, but animal and human evidence have shown an increase in plasticity [14], BDNF [15], and an anti-inflammatory effect [16], which, coincidentally, are normally affected in MDD [10]." {Credits 1}

{Credits 1} 🎪 Castillo-Aguilar, L., Ríos-Ponce, A. E., Albano de Mendonca, E., & Villafuerte, G. (2021). High-Frequency and Low-Intensity Patterned Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation over Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex as Treatment for Major Depressive Disorder: A Report of 3 Cases. Case Reports in Psychiatry, 2021. © 2021 Lizbeth Castillo-Aguilar et al. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.