Discover the SciOpen Platform and Achieve Your Research Goals with Ease.
Search articles, authors, keywords, DOl and etc.
High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) demonstrate significant potential for improving depressive symptoms and cognitive function; however, their effectiveness varies greatly among individuals. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy enables real-time monitoring of brain function during cognitive tasks in patients with psychiatric disorders.
A 4-week longitudinal study was conducted involving 61 patients with depression and 26 healthy controls. Patients were randomly assigned to HD-tDCS, rTMS, and antidepressant (AD) groups. Changes in depressive symptoms, adverse event rates, and prefrontal cortical oxyhemoglobin concentrations were assessed.
At week 4, remission rates were 62.5% (15), 61.9% (13), and 62.5% (10) in the HD-tDCS, rTMS, and AD groups, respectively (x2 = 0.002, p = 1.000). Response rates were 66.7% (16), 71.4% (15), and 68.8% (11), respectively, with no significant difference between groups (x2 = 0.12, p = 0.941). All groups demonstrated significant improvement in depressive symptoms and cognitive function. The rTMS group exhibited a significantly greater decrease in Hamilton Depression Scale score compared with the HD-tDCS and AD groups. After 2 weeks of treatment, patients exhibited improved depressive symptoms and reduced activation during the verbal fluency task. However, these changes were not significantly correlated (r = −0.159 to 0.240, p = 0.121–0.988).
All patients had concomitant use of ADs, which may impact near-infrared spectroscopy signaling and have an indeterminate effect on cognition.
HD-tDCS, rTMS, and ADs were equally effective, safe, and well-tolerated. HD-tDCS and rTMS were more effective for working memory, attention, executive functioning, and mood regulation.
Huang YQ, Wang Y, Wang H, et al. Prevalence of mental disorders in China: a cross-sectional epidemiological study. Lancet Psychiatr. 2019;6(3):211-224. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30511-X.
Parlikar R, Sreeraj VS, Shivakumar V, et al. High definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS): a systematic review on the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders. Asian J Psychiatr. 2021;56:102542. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2020.102542.
Tikka SK, Aleem Siddiqui M, Garg S, et al. Clinical practice guidelines for the therapeutic use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in neuropsychiatric disorders. Indian J Psychiatr. 2023;65(2):270–288. https://doi.org/10.4103/indianjpsychiatry.indianjpsychiatry_492_22.
Brunoni AR, Moffa AH, Sampaio-Junior B, et al. Trial of electrical direct-current therapy versus escitalopram for depression. N Engl J Med. 2017;376(26):2523–2533. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1612999.
Loo CK, Alonzo A, Martin D, et al. Transcranial direct current stimulation for depression: 3-week, randomised, sham-controlled trial. Br J Psychiatry. 2012;200(1):52–59. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.bp.111.097634.
Moreno ML, Goerigk SA, Bertola L, et al. Cognitive changes after tDCS and escitalopram treatment in major depressive disorder: results from the placebo-controlled ELECT-TDCS trial. J Affect Disord. 2020;263:344–352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2019.12.009.
Tang R, Song H, Kong Z, et al. Chinese experts' consensus on clinical application of transcranial direct current stimulation in the treatment of common neurological diseases and mental disorders. Chin J Psychiatry. 2022;55(5):327–382.
O'Reardon JP, Solvason HB, Janicak PG, et al. Reply regarding “efficacy and safety of transcranial magnetic stimulation in the acute treatment of major depression: a multisite randomized controlled trial”. Biol Psychiatr. 2010;67(2):e15–e17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.06.027.
Fitzgerald PB. Targeting repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in depression: do we really know what we are stimulating and how best to do it? Brain Stimul. 2021;14(3):730–736. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2021.04.018.
Huang JX, Zhang JQ, Zhang TY, et al. Increased prefrontal activation during verbal fluency task after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment in depression: a functional near-infrared spectroscopy study. Front Psychiatr. 2022;13:876136. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.876136.
Si TSL, Dang W, Se Y, et al. Evaluation of the reliability and validity of Chinese version of the Mini·International neuropsychiatric Interview in patients with mental disorders. Chin Ment Health J 2009;23(7):6.
Zhang D, Li G, Wang Z, et al. High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation combined with antidepressants in the treatment of major depressive disorder with anxious distress: a pilot randomized controlled trial. Chin J Psychiatry. 2022;55(3):196–203.
Cash RFH, Weigand A, Zalesky A, et al. Using brain imaging to improve spatial targeting of transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression. Biol Psychiatr. 2021;90(10):689–700. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2020.05.033.
Siddiqi SH, Taylor SF, Cooke D, et al. Distinct symptom-specific treatment targets for circuit-based neuromodulation. Am J Psychiatr. 2020;177(5):435–446. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19090915.
Cardenas VA, Bhat JV, Horwege AM, et al. Anatomical and fMRI-network comparison of multiple DLPFC targeting strategies for repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment of depression. Brain Stimul. 2022;15(1):63–72. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2021.11.008.
Goetz SM, Cassie Kozyrkov I, Luber B, et al. Accuracy of robotic coil positioning during transcranial magnetic stimulation. J Neural Eng. 2019;16(5):054003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-2552/ab2953.
Zorn L, Renaud P, Bayle B, et al. Design and evaluation of a robotic system for transcranial magnetic stimulation. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2012;59(3):805–815. https://doi.org/10.1109/TBME.2011.2179938.
Harquel S, Diard J, Raffin E, et al. Automatized set-up procedure for transcranial magnetic stimulation protocols. Neuroimage. 2017;153:307–318. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.04.001.
Caulfield KA, Fleischmann HH, George MS, et al. A transdiagnostic review of safety, efficacy, and parameter space in accelerated transcranial magnetic stimulation. J Psychiatr Res. 2022;152:384–396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2022.06.038.
Yu T, Chen WN, Huo LJ, et al. Association between daily dose and efficacy of rTMS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in depression: a meta-analysis. Psychiatr Res. 2023;325:115260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2023.115260.
Westin GG, Bassi BD, Lisanby SH, et al. Determination of motor threshold using visual observation overestimates transcranial magnetic stimulation dosage: safety implications. Clin Neurophysiol. 2014;125(1):142–147. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2013.06.187.
Wassermann EM. Risk and safety of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation: report and suggested guidelines from the international workshop on the safety of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, June 5–7, 1996. Electroencephalogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1998;108(1):1–16. https://doi.org/10.1016/s168-5597(97)00096-8.
Akiyama T, Koeda M, Okubo Y, et al. Hypofunction of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in depression during verbal fluency task: a multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy study. J Affect Disord. 2018;231:83–90. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.01.010.
Strangman G, Culver JP, Thompson JH, et al. A quantitative comparison of simultaneous BOLD fMRI and NIRS recordings during functional brain activation. Neuroimage. 2002;17(2):719–731.
Cui X, Bray S, Bryant DM, et al. A quantitative comparison of NIRS and fMRI across multiple cognitive tasks. Neuroimage. 2011;54(4):2808–2821. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2010.10.069.
Huppert TJ, Hoge RD, Diamond SG, et al. A temporal comparison of BOLD, ASL, and NIRS hemodynamic responses to motor stimuli in adult humans. Neuroimage. 2006;29(2):368–382. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2005.08.065.
Sato H, Yahata N, Funane T, et al. A NIRS-fMRI investigation of prefrontal cortex activity during a working memory task. Neuroimage. 2013;83:158–173. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2013.06.043.
Jang KE, Tak S, Jung J, et al. Wavelet minimum description length detrending for near-infrared spectroscopy. J Biomed Opt. 2009;14(3):034004. https://doi.org/10.1117/1.3127204.
Blumberger DM, Vila-Rodriguez F, Thorpe KE, et al. Effectiveness of Theta burst versus high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in patients with depression (THREE-D): a randomised non-inferiority trial. Lancet. 2018;391(10131):1683–1692. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30295-2.
Burkhardt G, Kumpf U, Crispin A, et al. Transcranial direct current stimulation as an additional treatment to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in adults with major depressive disorder in Germany (DepressionDC): a triple-blind, randomised, sham-controlled, multicentre trial. Lancet. 2023;402(10401):545–554. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00640-2.
Fitzgerald PB, Hoy KE, Anderson RJ, et al. A study of the pattern of response to rTMS treatment in depression. Depress Anxiety. 2016;33(8):746–753. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.22503.
Ferrier IN. Treatment of major depression: is improvement enough? J Clin Psychiatry. 1999;60(suppl 6):10–14.
Ramaker MJ, Dulawa SC. Identifying fast-onset antidepressants using rodent models. Mol Psychiatr. 2017;22(5):656–665. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2017.36.
Kuo HI, Paulus W, Batsikadze G, et al. Chronic enhancement of serotonin facilitates excitatory transcranial direct current stimulation-induced neuroplasticity. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2016;41(5):1223–1230. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2015.270.
Borckardt JJ, Bikson M, Frohman H, et al. A pilot study of the tolerability and effects of high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) on pain perception. J Pain. 2012;13(2):112–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2011.07.001.
Wong HL, Chan WC, Wong YL, et al. High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation-An open-label pilot intervention in alleviating depressive symptoms and cognitive deficits in late-life depression. CNS Neurosci Ther. 2019;25(11):1244–1253. https://doi.org/10.1111/cns.13253.
Huang YZ, Rothwell JC. The effect of short-duration bursts of high-frequency, low-intensity transcranial magnetic stimulation on the human motor cortex. Clin Neurophysiol. 2004;115(5):1069–1075. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2003.12.026.
Tang NL, Sun CZ, Wang YT, et al. Clinical response of major depressive disorder patients with suicidal ideation to individual target-transcranial magnetic stimulation. Front Psychiatr. 2021;12:768819. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2021.768819.
Cole EJ, Stimpson KH, Bentzley BS, et al. Stanford accelerated intelligent neuromodulation therapy for treatment-resistant depression. Am J Psychiatr. 2020;177(8):716–726. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.ajp.2019.19070720.
Modirrousta M, Meek BP, Wikstrom SL. Efficacy of twice-daily vs once-daily sessions of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of major depressive disorder: a retrospective study. Neuropsychiatric Dis Treat. 2018;14:309–316. https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S151841.
Perera T, George MS, Grammer G, et al. The clinical TMS society consensus review and treatment recommendations for TMS therapy for major depressive disorder. Brain Stimul. 2016;9(3):336–346. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2016.03.010.
Barnes R, Skvarc D, Fitzgerald PB, et al. Equal remission rates and reduced length of hospital stay with twice-daily repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for major depression - a large naturalistic retrospective cohort association study. Prog Neuro-Psychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2023;127:110820. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnpbp.2023.110820.
Brini S, Brudasca NI, Hodkinson A, et al. Efficacy and safety of transcranial magnetic stimulation for treating major depressive disorder: an umbrella review and re-analysis of published meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials. Clin Psychol Rev. 2023;100:102236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2022.102236.
Mutz J, Vipulananthan V, Carter B, et al. Comparative efficacy and acceptability of non-surgical brain stimulation for the acute treatment of major depressive episodes in adults: systematic review and network meta-analysis. BMJ. 2019;364:l1079. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.l1079.
Goerigk SA, Padberg F, Bühner M, et al. Distinct trajectories of response to prefrontal tDCS in major depression: results from a 3-arm randomized controlled trial. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2021;46(4):774–782. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41386-020-00935-x.
Razza LB, Palumbo P, Moffa AH, et al. A systematic review and meta-analysis on the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation in depressive episodes. Depress Anxiety. 2020;37(7):594–608. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.23004.
Brunelin J, Jalenques I, Trojak B, et al. The efficacy and safety of low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment-resistant depression: the results from a large multicenter French RCT. Brain Stimul. 2014;7(6):855–863. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2014.07.040.
Hejzlar M, Novak T, Bares M. Neurostimulation methods in the treatment of depression: a comparison of rTMS, tDCS, and venlafaxine using a pooled analysis of two studies. Neuropsychiatric Dis Treat. 2021;17:1713–1722. https://doi.org/10.2147/NDT.S303226.
Rigonatti SP, Boggio PS, Myczkowski ML, et al. Transcranial direct stimulation and fluoxetine for the treatment of depression. Eur Psychiatr. 2008;23(1):74–76. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2007.09.006.
Brunoni AR, Valiengo L, Baccaro A, et al. The sertraline vs. electrical current therapy for treating depression clinical study: results from a factorial, randomized, controlled trial. JAMA Psychiatr. 2013;70(4):383–391. https://doi.org/10.1001/2013.jamapsychiatry.32.
Abo Aoun M, Meek BP, Modirrousta M. Cognitive profiles in major depressive disorder: comparing remitters and non-remitters to rTMS treatment. Psychiatr Res. 2019;279:55–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2019.07.007.
Corlier J, Burnette E, Wilson AC, et al. Effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) on cognitive control. J Affect Disord. 2020;265:272–277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.068.
Begemann MJ, Brand BA, Ćurčić-Blake B, et al. Efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation on cognitive functioning in brain disorders: a meta-analysis. Psychol Med. 2020;50(15):2465–2486. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291720003670.
Palm U, Schiller C, Fintescu Z, et al. Transcranial direct current stimulation in treatment resistant depression: a randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Brain Stimul. 2012;5(3):242–251. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2011.08.005.
Soczynska JK, Ravindran LN, Styra R, et al. The effect of bupropion XL and escitalopram on memory and functional outcomes in adults with major depressive disorder: results from a randomized controlled trial. Psychiatr Res. 2014;220(1/2):245–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.06.053.
Gorlyn M, Keilp J, Burke A, et al. Treatment-related improvement in neuropsychological functioning in suicidal depressed patients: paroxetine vs. bupropion. Psychiatr Res. 2015;225(3):407–412. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2014.12.004.
Raskin J, Wiltse CG, Siegal A, et al. Efficacy of duloxetine on cognition, depression, and pain in elderly patients with major depressive disorder: an 8-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Am J Psychiatr. 2007;164(6):900–909. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.2007.164.6.900.
Tian YH, Du J, Spagna A, et al. Venlafaxine treatment reduces the deficit of executive control of attention in patients with major depressive disorder. Sci Rep. 2016;6:28028. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28028.
Zhou XY, Teng T, Zhang YQ, et al. Comparative efficacy and acceptability of antidepressants, psychotherapies, and their combination for acute treatment of children and adolescents with depressive disorder: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatr. 2020;7(7):581–601. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30137-1.
Herrero Babiloni A, Bellemare A, Beetz G, et al. The effects of non-invasive brain stimulation on sleep disturbances among different neurological and neuropsychiatric conditions: a systematic review. Sleep Med Rev. 2021;55:101381. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smrv.2020.101381.
Brunoni AR, Amadera J, Berbel B, et al. A systematic review on reporting and assessment of adverse effects associated with transcranial direct current stimulation. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2011;14(8):1133–1145. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1461145710001690.
Cao PP, Li YH, An B, et al. Efficacy and safety of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with antidepressants in children and adolescents with depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Affect Disord. 2023;336:25–34. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2023.05.051.
Kumpf U, Palm U, Eder J, et al. TDCS at home for depressive disorders: an updated systematic review and lessons learned from a prematurely terminated randomized controlled pilot study. Eur Arch Psychiatr Clin Neurosci. 2023;273(7):1403–1420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s406-023-01620-y.
Tsujii N, Mikawa W, Akashi H, et al. Right temporal activation differs between melancholia and nonmelancholic depression: a multichannel near-infrared spectroscopy study. J Psychiatr Res. 2014;55:1–7. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2014.04.003.
Satomura Y, Sakakibara E, Takizawa R, et al. Severity-dependent and-independent brain regions of major depressive disorder: a long-term longitudinal near-infrared spectroscopy study. J Affect Disord. 2019;243:249–254. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2018.09.029.
Fu LY, Xiang D, Xiao JW, et al. Reduced prefrontal activation during the tower of London and verbal fluency task in patients with bipolar depression: a multi-channel NIRS study. Front Psychiatr. 2018;9:214. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00214.
Noda T, Yoshida S, Matsuda T, et al. Frontal and right temporal activations correlate negatively with depression severity during verbal fluency task: a multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy study. J Psychiatr Res. 2012;46(7):905–912. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2012.04.001.
Wang ZY, Zhu RJ, Rehman AU, et al. Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and task-switching performan effects of anodal transcranial direct current stimulation. Neuroscience. 2020;446:94–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2020.08.020.
Toffanin T, Folesani F, Ferrara M, et al. Cognitive functioning as predictor and marker of response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in depressive disorders: a systematic review. Gen Hosp Psychiatr. 2022;79:19–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2022.10.001.
Dalhuisen I, Ackermans E, Martens L, et al. Longitudinal effects of rTMS on neuroplasticity in chronic treatment-resistant depression. Eur Arch Psychiatr Clin Neurosci. 2021;271(1):39–47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s406-020-01135-w.
Takamiya A, Hirano J, Ebuchi Y, et al. High-dose antidepressants affect near-infrared spectroscopy signals: a retrospective study. Neuroimage Clin. 2017;14:648–655. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2017.02.008.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).