MIND : TARGETED MAGNETIC STIMULATION MAY HELP DEPRESSION.

Byline: Damaris Christensen Medical Tribune News Service

An experimental therapy that uses quickly fluctuating magnetic fields to stimulate the brain may offer new hope in the treatment of depression, Spanish researchers report.

With the new therapy, called rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation, a magnetic coil is placed on the scalp to stimulate electrical activity in specific areas of the brain believed to be involved in depression, according to the researchers, led by Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone of the University of Valencia.

Some depression is thought to be caused by irregular electrical activity in certain areas of the brain, they said.

In a new study of 17 people with severe depression who did not respond to drug therapy, those who underwent magnetic stimulation once a day for five consecutive days showed significantly fewer symptoms of depression than those who did not receive the therapy.

The beneficial effects were short-lived, however, tapering off after two weeks, according to the study, published this week in the international medical journal the Lancet.

``This is very exciting,'' said Dr. Mark George of the Medical University of South Carolina, who has conducted some preliminary research on the new therapy.

``The rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation tells us there may be new ways of understanding how the brain regulates mood, and suggests new possibilities of treatment.''

But ``it's still very experimental'' and it is not clear how the therapy works, he added.

``If the data pan out, there seem to be almost no risks associated with this technique,'' said Dr. Richard Balon, a professor of psychiatry at Wayne State University in Detroit.

The only problem is that the benefits are fairly short-lived, and it's unclear how well the treatment will continue to work, or if side effects will develop with more frequent use, he said.

``Everything is preliminary, but promising,'' Balon added.

In the study, the Spanish researchers placed a magnetic coil over a person's scalp and then directed 10 magnetic pulses per second to certain parts of the brain.

The treatment consisted of five sessions over five consecutive days. Each session consisted of 20 10-second-long pulses, separated by one-minute pauses, according to the study.

The new therapy offers several advantages over electroconvulsive therapy, another treatment for depression that involves discharging an electric current to the brain, Balon said.

For instance, electroconvulsive therapy cannot be targeted to a specific area of the brain, he said. And it can induce seizures, severe memory loss and other side effects, he said.

In contrast, rapid-rate transcranial magnetic stimulation does not require anesthesia, and the only reported side effects were slight headaches, the Spanish researchers reported.

``Eventually, this ought to be a fairly low-tech kind of treatment,'' said Allan J. Schwartz, a psychologist at the University of Rochester in N.Y.

``It warrants follow-up because it's relatively benign and probably relatively inexpensive,'' he said.