Eligibility
Who might benefit from treatment?
Patients with major depression who have not benefit from standard antidepressant treatment or those who can not tolerate antidepressants are potential candidates for transcranial magnetics stimulation (TMS) treatment.
Who isn’t a candidate for treatment?
TMS should not be used under the these circumstances:
- The presence of metal anywhere in the head, excluding the mouth. This includes shrapnel, and screws and clips from surgical procedures.
- TMS also should not be performed in patients with electrodes inside the heart which might provide a low-resistance current path to electrically sensitive tissue.
- Persons with increased intracranial pressure, as in acute large intracranial infarctions or trauma, due to increased seizure risk.
Great caution is needed when using TMS in patients with a personal or family history of seizures.
Potential side effects
Although rare, the main risk of TMS is inducing a seizure. We follow specific safety guidelines to decrease chances of this complication.
The most common side effects are:
- headaches (usually of mild intensity)
- discomfort at the stimulation site
- eye muscle twitching
- twitching in other muscles near stimulation site (during treatment)
No cognitive side effects such as loss of memory nor changes in concentration have been reported.
You will be asked to wear ear plugs during your treatment to protect your hearing.