Early symptom improvement at 10 sessions as a predictor of rTMS treatment outcome in major depression

Predicting rTMS nonresponse could be helpful in sparing patients from futile treatment, and in improving use of limited rTMS resources. While several predictive biomarkers have been proposed, few are accurate for individual-level prediction; none have entered routine use. An alternative approach in pharmacotherapy predicts outcome from early response; patients showing minimal (e.g., ≤20%) improvement at 2 weeks can be predicted as nonresponders with negative predictive values (NPV) > 80–90%. This approach has recently been extended to ECT, but never before to rTMS.

Source: BRAIN STIMULATION: Basic, Translational, and Clinical Research in Neuromodulation - October 19, 2017 Category: Neurology Authors: Kfir Feffer, Hyewon Helen Lee, Farrokh Mansouri, Peter Giacobbe, Fidel Vila-Rodriguez, Sidney H. Kennedy, Zafiris J. Daskalakis, Daniel M. Blumberger, Jonathan Downar Source Type: research