Using MRI scans to ‘massage’ the brain can relieve depression symptoms for up to six months

Using MRI scans to deliver targeted magnetic stimulation to the brains of depressed people could ease symptoms for six months, researchers suggest.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been used to treat major depression since the 1980s.

It involves stimulating parts of the brain linked to depression with magnetic pulses. It was previously found to relieve symptoms for up to three months.

However, researchers from the University of Nottingham found that using MRI scans to pinpoint exactly where the brain needs to be hit could double the duration of treatment.

The team found that a fifth of patients saw their depression go into remission, and the two-thirds who responded to TMS saw a boost in their depression. memory, anxiety and quality of life.

Antidepressants and therapy are the best treatments for depression.

However, about a third of patients have treatment-resistant depression, meaning these options do not relieve their symptoms.

Psychiatrists can refer these patients for TMS through the NHS.

The study recruited 255 patients with treatment-resistant depression who completed 20 TMS sessions, lasting up to 30 minutes, over four to six weeks.

The team gave patients an MRI scan before looking at TMS, which allowed researchers to pinpoint the meeting area for the different brain systems involved in depression. This step is not part of a typical course of TMS therapy.

The treatment was delivered using neuronavigation, a computerized tracking system that uses light to deliver the TMS, which is a way to precisely locate the stimulation area so that the same area is targeted for all 20 treatment sessions.

In conscious patients, powerful magnetic pulses were delivered to the left side of their heads, just in front of the temporal part of the scalp.

Professor Richard Morriss, a psychiatrist at the University of Nottingham School of Medicine, said: ‘Ideally, people coming for a TMS session would sit in exactly the same place, but this will rarely happen.

‘This method uses light from both earlobes and the top of the nose to measure the stimulation point from the first time a patient receives the treatment.

‘The MRI personalizes the stimulation site and then neuronavigation ensures that the same site is stimulated during each treatment session.

‘This reduces the variability in stimulation with each session. Because the magnetic pulse can be focused, there are usually only minor, short-term side effects and the person can immediately resume their daily activities after returning from the hospital.”

The results, published in the journal NaturopathyResearch showed that two-thirds of participants responded to the treatment.

A third saw symptoms improve by 50 percent, while a fifth of patients went into remission and stayed there.

Professor Morriss said: ‘Given that these patients are people who have failed to respond to two previous treatment attempts and have been ill for an average of seven years, it is really encouraging to have such a significant response rate and a fifth who have a sustained response.’

‘Patients who responded to treatment continued to do relatively well compared to before, with just one or two treatments per year.

‘The changes we saw were substantial, not only in reducing their depression symptoms, but they were significant enough to improve concentration, memory, anxiety and therefore quality of life.’

The BRIGhTMIND study was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and the Medical Research Council.

Professor Danny McAuley, Scientific Director of NIHR Programs, said: ‘These are important findings that show that this new technique could bring enormous benefit to patients with major depression who has not responded to other treatments.’