UHN rTMS Clinic
399 Bathurst Street M5S2T8 Toronto, ON, Canada

Huge news and progress! Amazing work by our research team and collaborators! #mentalhealth #rTMS #research #brainstimulation -----------... FDA Clears 3-Minute Brain Stimulation Protocol for Depression Megan Brooks The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a newer and faster treatment protocol for the MagVita repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) therapy system from MagVenture, the company has announced. The FDA first cleared the MagVitaTMS therapy system in 2015 for treatment of adults with drug-resistant major depressive disorder, as reported by Medscape Medical News. Until now, each treatment session has lasted up to 37 minutes, with 20 to 30 sessions needed in total. With the new treatment protocol, which uses intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS), a treatment session lasts only 3 minutes, the company said in a news release. The newly approved iTBS protocol is based on results of a multicenter, noninferiority clinical trial involving 414 adults with treatment-resistant major depression who were randomly allocated to receive standard rTMS or iTBS. The iTBS protocol was shown to be noninferior to rTMS, according to a report published in the Lancet earlier this year. For both treatments, the number of dropouts was low, and side-effect, safety, and tolerability profiles were similar. With iTBS, the number of patients treated per day with current rTMS devices can be increased several times without compromising clinical effectiveness, the authors concluded. "We have named it 'Express TMS' because that's what it is: a treatment which is just as safe and effective for the treatment of depression as conventional TMS, only much, much faster," Kerry Rome, MagVenture's vice president of sales, said in the release. Rome said the current MagVenture TMS therapy system can be easily upgraded with the new Express TMS option. "This will enable our many customers to treat far more patients per day without having to invest in another TMS device. For people needing treatment, this will also be a huge benefit, as treatment will now take up less of their time," said Rome. https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/901052

Attended an excellent presentation this week by Laura Schulze, researcher @ UHN and PhD candidate @ University of Toronto. She is funded through an MHRC student...ship, investigating new forms of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, #rTMS, as treatment for major #depression. Dr Jonathan Downar @ UHN shared insight on his lab's mission to make rTMS a more accessible and affordable treatment option across Ontario and Canada. Stay tuned as we share more information about the life-changing work of Laura and other MHRC-funded researchers! #neuroscience #mentalhealth #cansci

Keep an eye on our latest publications to learn more about recent findings: https://rtmslab.com/researchgate.html

"Enabling biomarker identification and treatment optimization for prevalent neurological disorders: led by Drs. Robert Chen, Mary Pat McAndrews and Jonathan Downar (Krembil), will enhance our understanding of how different components of the affected brain networks interact in Parkinson disease, major depression and epilepsy."

In the largest study of its kind, a three-minute version of a brain stimulation treatment was shown to be just as effective as the standard 37-minute version for hard-to-treat depression. Our clinic at UHN was one of the three treatment centres in this trial.

Do you currently suffer from an eating disorder? You may be eligible for treatment, as a participant in our latest clinical trial using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Please contact the Study Coordinator ([email protected]) for more information. http://www.rtmsclinic.ca/research-studies/ #eatingdisorders #bulimia #anorexia #mentalhealth #rTMS

Looking for patients to participate in our clinical trials treating eating disorders and major depression. Check out the details of our ongoing studies on our webpage: http://www.rtmsclinic.ca/research-studies/

We are located at the Toronto Western Hospital, near downtown Toronto. Our clinic offers treatment for major depressive disorder and several other psychiatric disorders where medications have been unsuccessful, using a non-invasive form of brain stimulation known as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, or rTMS. Unlike medications or psychotherapy, rTMS works by directly stimulating areas of the brain that are underactive or overactive, gradually returning them to hea...lthy patterns of activity. To stimulate the brain, rTMS uses powerful, focused magnetic field pulses that are applied using a magnetic coil placed against the scalp, over the target brain region. When applied repeatedly, these pulses can strengthen or weaken the connections between neurons, known as synapses. The long-lasting changes in neural connections can achieve lasting changes in brain activity, reversing the abnormal patterns associated with depression. More information about rTMS and its use in treating depression is available on our website http://www.rtmsclinic.ca