This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.

VIDEO: Deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression, OCD

PHILADELPHIA — In this video, Aron Tendler, MD, a practicing psychiatrist in south Florida and chief medical officer of Brainsway, discusses the benefits of deep transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The FDA approved a deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) coil for treatment-resistant depression in January 2013.

“Depression is one of the leading causes of disability in the developed world. Treatment-resistant depression afflicts more than 5 million patients a year in the united states,” Tendler told Healio.com/Psychiatry. “Currently approved treatments that are available in the outpatient arena have less than 15% chance of efficacy in achieving remission.”

According to Tendler, deep TMS achieves a 38% remission rate and is very tolerable.

Tendler also presented feasibility data on a different deep TMS coil for OCD. The treatment targets the anterior cingulate cortex, a deeper area in the brain.