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Patient finds TMS therapy helpful in battle with depression
May 17th, 2012
TMS therapy uses a device that focuses magnetic pulses to a specific area of the brain in order to stimulate neurons which are believed to be underactive in patients with depression, said Rizwan Kahn, DO, a board certified psychiatrist at St. Francis Hospital.
Kahn said that as opposed to antidepressant medication or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, or “shock therapy”), which are systemic treatments that can improve depressive symptoms, but can also cause side effects to other parts of the body, “with TMS … it’s a very localized area that we’re targeting in the brain.”
Kahn said when a treatment is administered, doctors look for either response or remission from the patient. Response means that the patient gets 50 percent better from his or her baseline; remission means the patient is basically free from depressive symptoms.
TMS has only been FDA approved to treat major depressive disorder (commonly known as clinical or severe depression), but studies and research are currently being conducted to see what other uses TMS might have for disorders such as chronic pain and anxiety.
“There’s burgeoning research with this modality because it’s very well tolerated,” said Kahn. “If you have a treatment that’s well tolerated, that can be a big plus. I think there is a very bright future with this modality as far as broadening its use in other illnesses goes because the data has been very impressive with the results as well.”
Floyd Bidleman, a 43-year-old Columbus resident, recently sat down with the Ledger-Enquirer to talk about his treatment. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Was that largely therapy sessions?
It was therapy sessions, coping sessions and how to deal with the depression and stuff like that. During the process I was going through medication — I went through all the different antidepressant medications and none of them seemed to work at the time. And this last year, about June this last year, I had another bout and that’s when they suggested I go through the TMS.
What were your initial thoughts when they first told you about this kind of therapy and what it was going to do?
My initial thought was ‘What kind of treatment is it?’ and what will it be like and will it help me? And would it stop my depression.
How many sessions have you gone through?
I went through 26 sessions, the whole 26 sessions. I’ve been through it for … end of February was my treatment, so it’s been a few months.
When did you start to notice a difference?
I started to notice a difference about the fourth week. My mood began to pick up a little bit, I didn’t have such a down outlook on life.
What are some of the major changes you’ve noticed in yourself since going through TMS therapy? I
noticed that, like I said, I don’t have a (negative) outlook towards life. I’ve been having a lot more to do with my family. Work doesn’t seem to get to me as much and everyday life has become a little better.
So are you able to handle stress better?
Yes, I am. Yes, I am.
What has the response been like from your family?
They seem like, they think I’m a different person. I’m a better person. I’m not as withdrawn as I used to be.
What were some of the things you were going through during the depressive stages that was having a major impact on your life?
My outlook on life was — I didn’t have an outlook. I just, honestly, I just didn’t want to be here. Depression can do that do you. I just didn’t want to be, per se, alive at the time. I didn’t want to do anything. I just pretty much slept and was kind of like a zombie. And now it’s a complete 180. I have a lot more to do. My outlook on life is a lot better.
What would you say to somebody who was considering going through TMS treatment?
I would say to go through the treatment because if medication hasn’t worked in the past, it’s a treatment that will work. And if it gets you off medication, it’s well worth the process.
And have you had any follow up treatments? Or is it mostly counseling?
I have had no follow-ups. I have a maintenance drug, just one little maintenance drug that I take and I do talk to a counselor every week.
Tags: antidepressants, depression, MDD, neuropsychiatry, psychiatry, tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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Depression can be treated without drugs for pregnant women
May 17th, 2012
A drug-free way to treat depression could be a big breakthrough for pregnant women who are reluctant to take medication.
Besides the risk of suicide, depression during pregnancy can cause early delivery and preeclampsia, which is a form of dangerously high blood pressure.
Now, through a breakthrough pilot study, depressed moms-to-be are being treated with TMS.
TMS, or transcranial magnetic stimulation, is an FDA approved treatment that uses the electromagnetic pulses of a powerful magnet to target the part of the brain involved in depression.
“It allows the brain cells to communicate better with each other and so if you can get those circuits to communicate, those neurons to communicate better with each other, the depression actually will improve,” said psychiatrist Dr. Deborah Kim.
Women in the study get five treatments a week for a month. Each session lasts 15 minutes.
Dr. Kim says so far, 10 out of 10 women have seen improvement. Seven women say they are at least 50 percent better. Three say they no longer feel depressed. The study is still ongoing.
Tags: depression, pregnancy, pregnant, tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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Non-drug Depression Therapy Effective
May 17th, 2012
A new depression treatment that delivers mild magnetic stimulation to the brain significantly improves the symptoms and quality of life of patients with the mental-health disorder, new research shows.
The study, presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association last week, found the percentage of patients with major depression who were able to return to normal activities more than tripled after treatment with “transcranial magnetic stimulation” (TMS).
About 58 percent of patients had a positive reaction to the therapy after five weeks. Nearly 40 percent experienced remission from their depression. And the number of patients reporting extreme problems with anxiety and depression declined by more than 42.2 percent, researchers said.
“The improvements we observed show that non-drug therapy with NeuroStar TMS not only reduces the symptomatic suffering of patients, but lessens the disability of depression with important implications for these individuals’ ability to return to functioning effectively at home, in the workplace, and in the community,” said lead researcher Dr. Ian A. Cook, with the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at the University of California, Los Angeles.
For the study, researchers monitored 307 patients who received the TMS therapy then assessed their symptoms by using a standard health survey that measures symptoms. They found statistically significant improvements in the patients’ reported symptoms and quality of life after five weeks of TMS therapy.
“These data reinforce the clinical efficacy of TMS T] therapy as a viable option for patients living with major depression who have not achieved or maintained symptom improvement with oral antidepressants,” said Dr. H. Brent Solvason, of Stanford University Medical Center. “The most meaningful takeaway for patients is that TMS therapy has the potential to make them feel better, in addition to potentially allowing them to experience a level of physical and social functionality they haven’t had with their depression.”
TMS delivers pulsed magnetic stimulation to a region of the cerebral cortex, the region of the brain that controls mood. NeuroStar TMS Therapy has been cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat patients with major depression who have not responded well to antidepressant drugs.
Tags: American Psychiatric Association, APA, depression, major depression, MDD, neuropsychiatry, psychiatry, tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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TMS Magnetic Therapy Eases Depression and Pain
April 17th, 2012
Cynthia Todd has been suffering from chronic pain caused by Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) for over a decade. The constant burning and aching sensation that is common with RSD left her severely depressed. “I wanted to die. I literally wanted to die,” Todd recalls.
In desperation, she turned to Dr. Todd Hutton, a psychiatrist in Beverly Hills, California. Hutton uses a relatively new procedure, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), to treat patients with major depression who have not had success with anti-depressant medication.
“I’ve gone through many types of treatment and I’ve never looked forward to anything more than this,” says Todd, who began TMS therapy about a year ago. “It’s the only thing that worked.”
At the Southern California TMS Center, the painless 40-minute procedure is conducted on an outpatient basis. The facility, like a surgical center, is used by nine different psychiatrists exclusively for TMS therapy. Patients receive TMS treatments five days a week for four to six weeks, followed by sporadic single maintenance treatments –which may go on indefinitely.
TMS generates highly concentrated magnetic fields which turn on and off rapidly. These magnetic fields — the same type as those produced by a magnetic resonance imaging machine (MRI) – target a part of the brain involved with mood regulation, which is underactive in depressed patients. The magnetic fields produce small electric currents that activate cells within the brain, which are thought to release neurotransmitters (serotonin, norepinephrine and dopamine), chemical messengers that improve mood and make depressed people feel better.
“In depression, we’ve learned that there are areas of the brain that are underactive, particularly in the left frontal lobe,” Hutton explains. “And people had the idea that if we could stimulate this area of the left frontal lobe perhaps we could reverse the effects of depression. And that turned out to really work.”
TMS therapy is being used to treat addiction, fibromyalgia and migraines — with encouraging results. The U.S. Army and the National Institutes of Health have also been experimenting with TMS to ease Phantom Limb Pain, which is experienced by many amputees.
TMS has been used to treat depression in the U.S. since it received approval from the Food and Drug Administration in 2008. As yet, there are no known long-term adverse side effects. Cost of treatment depends on the number of applications and whether TMS is covered by insurance. While TMS is FDA approved, some insurers still label it investigational and experimental, even though it’s part of the American Psychiatric Association’s treatment guidelines for depression.
Hutton believes TMS is cost effective for both insurers and patients because it reduces the need for medication and other procedures used to treat depression.
Tags: addiction, chronic pain, depression, migraines, psychiatry, tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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See TMS Therapy Featured on the Dr. Oz Show-Part 2
March 16th, 2012
TMS Therapy on Dr. Oz Show- Part 2
Tags: Anxiety, depression, Dr Oz, psychiatry, tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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See TMS Therapy Featured on Dr. Oz Show- Part 1
March 16th, 2012
Tags: Anxiety, depression, Dr Oz, psychiatry, tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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TMS to be featured on the Dr Oz Show
March 12th, 2012
On the afternoon of March 14th, the Dr. Oz show will feature a segment on TMS Therapy® and potentially demonstrate a treatment using the NeuroStar® system! Dr. Tarique Perera, a NeuroStar TMS Therapy Provider from Greenwich, Connecticut, was asked to be on the show, along with one of his NeuroStar TMS Therapy patients.
Dr. Oz is seen as a credible source of medical information to his viewers and his show is the top rated syndicated talk show, with over 4 million daily viewers. The Dr. Oz show has a broad television audience, the majority of which are within our patient demographic. We expect TMS awareness to increase, not only due to the segment on the television show, but also due to his Web site exposure, which receives over 8 million hits per month.
Tags: depression, Dr Oz, Dr Oz show, tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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Holding a Mirror to Brain Changes in Autism
March 5th, 2012
ScienceDaily (Mar. 2, 2012) — Impaired social function is a cardinal symptom of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs). One of the brain circuits that enable us to relate to other people is the “mirror neuron” system. This brain circuit is activated when we watch other people, and allows our brains to represent the actions of others, influencing our ability to learn new tasks and to understand the intentions and experiences of other people.
This mirror neuron system is impaired in individuals with ASD and better understanding the neurobiology of this system could help in the development of new treatments.
In their new study, Dr. Peter Enticott at Monash University and his colleagues used transcranial magnetic stimulation to stimulate the brains of individuals with ASD and healthy individuals while they observed different hand gestures. This allowed the researchers to measure the activity of each individual’s mirror neuron system with millisecond precision in response to each observed action.
They found that the individuals with ASD showed a blunted brain response to stimulation of the motor cortex when viewing a transitive hand gesture. In other words, the mirror neuron system in the ASD individuals became less activated when watching the gestures, compared to the healthy group. In addition, among people with ASD, less mirror neuron activity was associated with greater social impairments. This finding adds to the evidence that deficits in mirror neuron system functioning contribute to the social deficits in ASD.
This finding also directly links a specific type of brain dysfunction in people with autism spectrum disorder to a specific symptom. This is important because “we do not have a substantial understanding of the brain basis of autism spectrum disorder, or a validated biomedical treatment for the disorder,” said Dr. Enticott. “If we can develop a substantial understanding of the biology of specific symptoms, this will allow us to develop treatments targeted specifically to the symptoms.”
“This study is an example of the effort to break down the component problems associated with autism spectrum disorder and to map these problems on to particular brain circuits,” commented Dr. John Krystal, editor of Biological Psychiatry.
Enticott added, “We are currently investigating whether non-invasive brain stimulation can be used to improve mirror neuron activity in autism spectrum disorder, which would have substantial potential therapeutic implications.”
Tags: ASD, autism, neurons, neuropsychiatric, psychiatry, tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award Presented to Brainsway for Its Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (dTMS) Device
February 29th, 2012
LONDON, Feb. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Based on its recent analysis of the neuro-psychiatric devices market, Frost & Sullivan recognises Brainsway with the 2012 Global Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award.
Brainsway’s cutting-edge deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (dTMS) is the only non-invasive technique that can be used for the treatment of depression and other neuro-psychiatric disorders without causing any significant side effects.
“The system has shown high efficacy compared to conventional treatment methods for depression and also the standard TMS systems that are currently used in the market,” notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Brahadeesh Chandrasekaran. “Opinion leaders across Europe and the United States are already using this device and the clinical evidence so far suggests that Brainsway’s dTMS is highly efficient and extremely promising for the treatment of neuro-psychiatric disorders.”
“The device has obtained the CE mark for treating depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and Parkinson’s disease,” says Chandrasekaran. “It is on the last stretch of a multi-centre trial for obtaining FDA approval for treating depression and has received an IDE for starting another multi-centre trial in bipolar disorder patients.”
In conventional treatment methods (both drug therapy and electro-convulsive therapy), patients are prone to high risk of side effects. In comparison, Brainsway’s dTMS system is the only TMS system that allows direct, non-invasive activation of deep brain cells.
Its unique magnetic coil design produces the magnetic pulses required to activate the deeper brain structures without causing any side effects, eliminating the need for anaesthesia and hospitalisation.
Potential clinical applications in more than 10 to 15 different types of neuro-psychiatric disorders, coupled with the benefits offered to both patients and medical professionals, are set to ensure the widespread acceptance of Brainsway’s dTMS.
Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in developing a product with innovative elements that leverages leading edge technologies, that offers valued added features and benefits, supports increased customer ROI and has the potential for enhanced customer acquisition/penetration.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognise companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
Tags: bipolar, depression, neuropsychiatric disorders, psychiatry, tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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Healthy Living: Magnetic depression treatment
February 29th, 2012
When it comes to depression, one of five adults at some point in their life will experience it.
“I didn’t want to live. I could see no the point in living. Everything was pointless,” said Martha Rhodes.
Even as a teen, Martha Rhodes could remember having thoughts of suicide. Her depression cost her career and nearly her life.”I overdosed because I couldn’t go on, I just couldn’t go on,” said Rhodes.
Neither therapy nor medication was helpful, she was considered treatment resistant. Her last hope was an alternative treatment called NeuroStar TMS, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, where through a coil, highly focused magnetetic stimulation is applied to areas of the brain thought to control mood.
Dr. Randy Pardell, a Psychiatrist said, “We utilize an MRI strength magnet to gently and persistently stimulate the areas of the brain that are under performing and under functioning.” The pulse is delivered for four seconds, with a 26 second break, the cycle lasts forty minutes.
“We see on spec scans or pet scans, these are scans that are able to look at brain functioning, that it awakens those areas of the brain,” said Dr. Pardell.
Rhodes said, “The only side effect is the intense tapping, and it’s intense, like a neogie.”
There’s no prep work for treatment and no after effects, unlike some antidepressant medication. Most patients have one treatment five days a week, for 4 to 5 weeks. Martha began to see results after her 18th session.
“I thought something was missing and I couldn’t put my finger on it and then I realized, it’s the awful feeling, the dread, that disgusting emotional nausea is gone,” said Rhodes.
The treatment is relatively new but there are other things they are treating, such as pain management, anxiety and headaches.
Some critics worry that the magnetic pulse is dangerous.
“The amount of stimulation you get from our machine in the total treatment is less than one MRI,” said Dr. Pardell.
Martha is medication free and most importantly, depression free.
“I feel saved and I feel survived form a dark and dangerous place,” said Rhodes.
Tags: antidepressants, Anxiety, depression, neuropsychiatry, pain management, psychiatrist, therapy, tms, transcranial magnetic stimulation
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