Türkiye Psikiyatri Derneği Yıllık Toplantısı ve 2. Uluslararası 26. Ulusal Klinik Eğitim Sempozyumu, Mersin, Türkiye, 9 - 12 Mayıs 2024, ss.76
OBJECTIVE: Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) has approved
for treatment-resistant depression in 2008. The most commonly
recommended TMS protocol for depressed patients is stimulation of
the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) or inhibition of the
right DLPFC. TMS applied more than once a day is called accelerated
TMS (aTMS). We aim to present a patient with treatment-resistant
depression who benefited from aTMS.
CASE: The patient was admitted with unhappiness, anhedonia, suicidal
thoughts, insomnia, nausea, and vomiting. In his history, we learned that
he had a depressive episode two years ago and used sertraline 100 mg/
day, but it did not improve, and he attempted suicide at that time. He
was currently using bupropion 450 mg/day and aripiprazole 10 mg/day.
However, his depressive symptoms still continued, and his Hamilton
Depression Rating Scale-17 (HDRS-17) score of 20 was moderate
depression. Since the patient did not improve with drug treatments,
we decided to apply aTMS to the patient, and aTMS was applied to
the left DLPFC with intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) (5
Hz, 600 pulses) and to the right DLPFC with continuous theta burst
stimulation (cTBS) (5 Hz, 600 pulses) for a total of 15 sessions 3 times
per day. The patient’s HDRS-17 score was 20 on day 1, 9 on day 5, and
2 on day 8 of the aTMS. No side effects were observed during aTMS.
The patient, who is on Bupropion 300 mg/day and Quetiapine XR
150 mg/day, has no active psychiatric complaints and continues to be
followed up in our clinic with a remission for about one year. Verbal
and written consent was obtained from the patient for the case report.
DISCUSSION: Our findings in this case suggest that aTMS could be
an effective option for patients with treatment-resistant depression. In
our case, significant improvement was observed following aTMS, with
no side effects.