title: Resting motor threshold changes and clinical response to prefrontal repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in depressed patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Several variables are able to influence the antidepressant effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), particularly the intensity of stimulation, which is generally expressed according to the resting motor threshold (RMT). The aim of our study was to investigate whether or not RMT changes during the treatment of resistant depression by rTMS and whether these fluctuations could alter treatment outcome.
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-five inpatients suffering from unipolar or bipolar treatment-resistant depression and who had been antidepressant-free or taking a stable antidepressant drug and a daily dose of benzodiazepine for at least a month received a left prefrontal rTMS session once a day for 10 days at 10 Hz and 95% RMT.
  
  
  RESULTS
  For the whole group, no significant fluctuation of RMT was observed between the first and the second week of rTMS treatment. However, RMT increased, decreased or remained constant throughout treatment depending on the patient. These RMT changes influenced the outcome of the 10 sessions concerning the severity of depressive and anxiety symptoms, measured by the Beck Depression Inventory and State Trait Anxiety, respectively.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results justify calculating RMT regularly, and suggest that its variations play a role in treatment outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Psychiatry, University Hospital of Besançon, Besançon, France.
authors.forename: Jean-Baptiste
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Pretalli
authors.forename: Magali
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nicolier
authors.forename: Gilles
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chopard
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vandel
authors.forename: Grégory
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tio
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Monnin
authors.forename: Lionel
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pazart
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sechter
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Haffen
mesh_terms: D061218:Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000379:methods / Q000523:psychology*