Efficacy of Adjunctive High Frequency Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Right Prefrontal Cortex in Adolescent Mania: A Randomized Sham-Controlled Study

To examine the efficacy of adjunctive right prefrontal high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment in adolescent mania patients as compared to sham stimulation.

Twenty six right handed patients aged 12-17 years diagnosed with bipolar mania were randomized to receive daily sessions of active or sham rTMS (20 Hz, 110% of motor threshold, 20 trains, 10 s intertrain interval) over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for 10 days. Mania was rated using Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) at baseline, and after 5th and 10th rTMS.

For YMRS scores, repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed a significant main effect (F=44.49, degree of freedom [df]=1.2/29.29, p<0.001, Greenhouse-Geisser corrected, effect size η(2)=0.65), but the interaction effect was not significant (F=0.03, df=1.2/29.29, p=0.912, Greenhouse-Geisser corrected). For CGI-Severity, repeated measures ANOVA showed a significant main effect (F=24.49, df=1.42/34.21, p<0.001, Greenhouse-Geisser corrected, effect size η(2)=0.51), but the interaction effect was not significant (F=0.06, df=1.2/29.29, p=0.881, Greenhouse-Geisser corrected).

High-frequency right prefrontal rTMS was found to be ineffective as add-on to standard pharmacotherapy in adolescent mania.