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TMS is an outpatient procedure and does not require anesthesia or an IV. It can be administered in a physician’s office or clinic. Approximately 5-10% of patients have discomfort at the site of stimulation. Generally this has not been a problem when administering TMS to patients volunteering for research studies.
The duration of treatment session depends on the research protocol, but in general each session takes about a half an hour.
Research protocols range in the treatment duration, but most need at least two weeks of daily stimulation given five times per week, some require up to 6 weeks. The main risk of TMS is inducing a seizure. Fortunately, with close monitoring this complication is very rare. No seizures have been reported in the scientific literature since safety guidelines have been performed. For stimulation at low frequency (once per second) there have been no reports of seizures.
There is a potential risk of disturbing the brain’s normal functions, insofar as the brain is directly stimulated by TMS. Nevertheless, in depression researches reported so far, no cognitive side-effects like loss of memory, negative changes in concentration and other cognitive capacities have been reported. This is in stark contract to the well known cognitive side effects associated with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT).
TMS has some very unique properties. It is non-invasive, (does not break the skin and can be delivered in a physician’s office) can easily be concentrated on small areas of the brain, and can change brain activity. This makes it especially well suited for treating the brain, while decreasing side effects typical with other psychiatric treatments which influence areas of the brain and body not involved in the disorder.
Specifically for major depression, researchers understand there are a significant number of patients experiencing this disorder that are not helped by the open medications and other therapies, only receive partial advantage, or are not able to take medications at all. TMS offers hope that, if proven efficient, many of these patients may be able to have symptom relief.
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