Use of a Double-Cone Coil in Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Depression Treatment

Approximately 15% of all people will experience a depressive episode throughout their lives, and by 2020, depression will be the second largest cause of disability around the world. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been shown to be an effective option for treating this condition. Devices such as the double-cone coil may bring new insights regarding depression treatment.

A literature search was performed on PubMed, ScienceDirect, Cochrane, LILACS, and Google Scholar by applying the descriptors "depression" AND "transcranial magnetic stimulation" AND "double cone-coil."

Six studies were considered eligible (three clinical trials, two case series, and one isolated case report). All of them described treatments with transcranial magnetic stimulation by double-cone coil (DC-TMS) at 10 Hz over the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, achieving response and remission rates of 40-52.4% and 34.7-47.6%, respectively. Two clinical trials investigated both intermittent theta-burst stimulation and 10 Hz TMS, suggesting a slight advantage of the latter. They also found no additional gains by combining both techniques.

Despite the small number of controlled clinical trials and the small sample sizes, which limit the generalization of the obtained results, the collected data provide an optimistic perspective on the effectiveness of using DC-TMS for depression treatment.