Safety, tolerability, and feasibility of deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for late-life depression with comorbid major or mild neurocognitive disorder

AbstractRepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is used to treat different neuropsychiatric conditions like Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, stroke, cognitive decline, dementia and depression. rTMS may exert its therapeutic effects by influencing the biochemistry of neurotransmitters. In this exploratory study, safety symptom improvement and changes in the availability of neurotransmitter precursor amino acids were studied following prefrontal cortex (PFC) stimulation using repetitive transcranial stimulation with TheraCell apparatus R (Guth Meditec, Salach, Germany) as an additional treatment in ten patients with late life depression. Treatment was well tolerated with no serious adverse effects being observed. rTMS induced a significant improvement in the symptoms of depression and a significant decrease in the HAMD-7 (p <0.03). At the same time, the serum phenylalanine to tyrosine ratio declined significantly (p <0.04). No significant influence of rTMS on tryptophan breakdown and serum neopterin concentrations was observed. These preliminary findings indicate that rTMS may influence the activity of the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) which plays a key role in the biosynthesis of neurotransmitter precursors related to neuropsychiatric symptoms in late life depression. However, results were obtained from only 10 patients. Larger studies are therefore required to support these conclusions

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Low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in elderly: Effects on mood and cognitive functions

European Psychiatry ◽

10.1016/s0924-9338(11)72552-4 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 26 (S2) ◽

pp. 847-847

Author(s):

S. Pallanti ◽

C. Cecchelli

Keyword(s):

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Side Effects ◽

Cognitive Functions ◽

Pharmacological Treatment ◽

Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation ◽

Late Life ◽

Visual Spatial ◽

Metabolic Side Effects ◽

Treatment Of Depression

Increasing the options for effective treatment of depression in elderly with the aim of improving quality of life remains a critical public health goal. Late-life depression is associated with cognitive impairment and dementia. Pharmacological therapy is a common modality of treatment for depression during the late-life period. Antidepressants seem to have some efficacy in improving cognitive functions. However pharmacological treatment in elderly causes some trouble because of the risk of metabolic side effects. Continuing use of antidepressant medication is associated with an increased relative risk of type 2 diabetes.Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) represents an effective, well-tolerated non-pharmacological treatment for depression. Recently rTMS has been proposed as a possible treatment for the cognitive deficits associated with Alzheimer disease (AD). The findings of a recent study provide initial evidence for the persistent beneficial effects of rTMS on sentence comprehension in AD patients.We propose the use of rTMS for treatment of depression in elderly in order to reduce the risk of metabolic side effects and to improve cognitive functions. In our experience, elderly depressed patient treated with rTMS, at 1 Hz at 110% of Rest Motor Threshold (RMT) over the right Dorso-Lateral Pre-Frontal Cortex (DLPFC) for three or four weeks, show a significant reduction in depressive symptomatology and furthermore a significant improving in cognitive functions (verbal fluency, visual-spatial memory and score in the MINI-Mental State Examination).

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