Patient Information for Apollo TMS Therapy
According to the World Health Organization, depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide, with an estimated 350 million people suffering from this serious disorder (http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/).
Although many different forms of drug therapies exist, these may be unsatisfactory due to a lack of effectiveness or undesirable side effects. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, or TMS in short, can help achieve remission in major depressive disorder as an alternative, FDA approved treatment for patients that did not benefit from prior antidepressant medications.
TMS is an approach which uses magnetic pulses to accurately stimulate neural activity. TMS treatment is:
- Non-invasive, meaning it does not involve surgery, anesthesia or sedation of any kind.
- Non-systemic, meaning it is not a pill that has to be swallowed and does not circulate the blood stream.
The technology is like that of MRI scanners – short magnetic pulses are emitted from a butterfly-like coil, which can painlessly pass through the intact skull and to the outer regions of the brain. Here, very short and very small electric fields are induced, which in turn can influence neural activity.
By stimulating with several pulses over several treatment sessions, TMS can have lasting effects on the brain. As such the therapeutic approach with TMS is to inhibit over-active areas in the brain or, as is the case in a depression treatment, excite under-active regions.
TMS is a proven and safe treatment method with very few side-effects. The most common side-effect is transient pain, transient headaches, discomfort at the treatment-site or short uneasiness or dizziness. In extremely rare cases, epileptic seizures may be induced (although no seizures were observed during TMS FDA clinical trials that included over 10,000 treatment sessions.). TMS is free of most side-effects which are typically associated with antidepressant medications such as weight gain, sexual problems or upset stomach.
Each TMS treatment session takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes. Before and right after treatment, the patient can directly come and go from their normal everyday activities. In total, the patient receives 5 therapy sessions per week for 4 to 6 weeks. Patients are alert and awake during treatment.
Controlled clinical trials applying TMS on patients who had failed to achieve satisfactory improvement from one prior antidepressant medications showed that:
- Approximately 1 out of 2 patients experienced significant improvement in depression symptoms.
- Approximately 1 out of 3 patients experienced complete symptom relief after the full TMS therapy.
Please ask your provider if TMS is right for you. You should not apply TMS if any of the following conditions apply:
- You have implants such as cochlear implants, internal pulse generators, medication pumps, pacemakers or other implanted devices.
- You have metal of any kind in the head or brain area.
- You have a history of epilepsy.
- You have had a vascular, traumatic, tumoral, infectious, or metabolic lesion of the brain.
- You are pregnant (TMS TX may be considered/given during pregnancy ONLY with the approval of the patient’s psychiatrist, obstetrician, and, if applicable, a pediatrician, who together will carefully weigh the potential risks and benefits.)
TMS is a safe form of treatment that has been cleared by FDA since 2008 for patients with depression who have failed to achieve satisfactory improvement from one prior antidepressant medication at or above the minimal effective dose and duration in the current episode. If you are unsatisfied with your current depression medication or worry about its side effects and are looking for a proven, drug-free alternative, ask your doctor about TMS.