You have been diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder or Major Depressive Disorder with Anxious Distress and your doctor has recommended you to be treated with dTMS to treat your conditions. dTMS treatment has been shown to be safe and effective in the treatment of patients with Major Depressive Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder with Anxious Distress.
Your Health Care Provider (psychiatrist, physician, psychologist, social worker or the counsellor) will review your medical and depression history to help determine if dTMS treatment is appropriate for you.
The treatment is performed under the psychiatrist's supervision. Neither anesthesia nor sedation is required. You will be awake and alert during the treatment sessions. The treatment sessions include daily treatments for a period of 4-6 weeks. Each treatment session lasts approximately 20 minutes. We may consider further maintenance treatments in order to maintain the improvement.
dTMS is a non-invasive procedure, involving stimulation of a part of the brain called the Left Prefrontal Cortex. The stimulation activates the nerve cells in this region of the brain and improves depressive symptoms. The stimulation is produced by a treatment "coil" contained in a helmet. During the treatment, the helmet is gently positioned on your head, over this region of the brain. Short pulses of electricity sent through the treatment coil generate magnetic fields that turn on and off very rapidly. These magnetic fields are similar to those used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The pulses produce clicking sounds. The magnetic field goes through the head and activates the nerve cells in this region of the brain and improves symptoms of depression and anxiety gradually.
Safety of BrainsWay dTMS was demonstrated in a clinical study involving many patients with moderate to severe Major Depressive Disorder.
dTMS is proven to be a very safe and effective treatment.
The long-term safety of the BrainsWay dTMS has been demonstrated in a clinical study. During the full course of 16 weeks of ongoing treatment, the therapy was safely tolerated. Furthermore, no negative effects of treatment were seen during a 3 month follow-up period. Longer term effects of exposure to the treatment are not known. However, exposure to other devices (such as MRI scanners) with the same type and strength of magnetic fields produced by dTMS coil are not associated with significant short-term or long-term safety concerns.