Magnetic seizure therapy holds promise in major depressive disorder

Magnetic seizure therapy (MST) produces a significant symptom reduction in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), proving to be a promising alternative to electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a study reports.

The analysis included 86 patients with MDD who completed a minimally adequate MST course (ie, at least 8 sessions). Patients were treated two to three times per week with high- (ie, 100 Hz; n=24), medium- (ie, 60 or 50 Hz; n=26) or low-frequency MST (ie, 25 Hz; n=36) using 100 percent stimulator output.

A total of 47 patients completed the trial per protocol, among whom 17 achieved remission (ie, 24-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression score <10 and a relative reduction of >60 percent at two consecutive assessments) and 30 underwent a maximum of 24 sessions.

The highest remission rate was seen in the high-frequency MST group at 33.3 percent, which was significantly higher than in the low-frequency MST (11.1 percent; p=0.04). There was no difference between the medium- (19.2 percent) and low-frequency MST groups.

Likewise, response rates were highest in the high-frequency MST group (41.7 percent), followed by low- (33.3 percent) and medium-frequency (26.9 percent) groups.

Most measures of cognitive performance remained unchanged, except for a substantially poorer recall consistency of autobiographical information and markedly better brief visuospatial memory task performance.

Under open conditions, MST yielded a clinically meaningful decline in depressive symptoms, while inducing minimal cognitive impairment, in patients with MDD.

Additional studies are warranted to compare MST and ECT under a double-blind randomized condition, researchers said.