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Published on: August 11, 2015
High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation-Primed Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation in
Alankrit Jaiswal1, Nishant Goyal2, Umesh Shreekantiah3
1From the Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, Jharkhand, India.
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to evaluate whether high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HDtDCS) priming improves the efficacy of intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) in improving TRD.
Methodology:
A prospective hospital-based, randomized control study where the participants were divided into active or sham HDtDCS-primed iTBS stimulation groups for a total of 10 sessions and were assessed on clinical parameters at baseline, end of week 1, and end of week 2 was done. Primary outcome of the study was the difference in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) scores over 2 weeks of HDtDCS-primed iTBS.
Result:
A significant effect of time was seen over HDRS scores in both active and sham groups with a large effect size. Significant effect of time was also found over the Clinical Global Impressions-Severity Scale scores of patients with a large effect size. The difference in the improvement in depressive severity as measured using HDRS and Clinical Global Impressions-Severity Scale scores between active and sham groups was also found to be significant with large effect sizes.
Conclusion:
High-definition tDCS-primed iTBS is superior to normal iTBS in patients with depression who have failed a trial of 2 antidepressants, whereas both mechanisms are of benefit to the patients.
