Accelerated HF-rTMS in treatment-resistant unipolar depression: Insights from subgenual anterior cingulate functional connectivity.
OBJECTIVE
Intensified repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) may result in fast clinical responses in treatment resistant depression (TRD). In these kinds of patients, subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) functional connectivity (FC) seems to be consistently disturbed. So far, no de novo data on the relationship between sgACC FC changes and clinical efficacy of accelerated rTMS were available.


METHODS
Twenty unipolar TRD patients, all at least stage III treatment resistant, were recruited in a randomized sham-controlled crossover high-frequency (HF)-rTMS treatment study. Resting-state (rs) functional MRI scans were collected at baseline and at the end of treatment.


RESULTS
HF-rTMS responders showed significantly stronger resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) anti-correlation between the sgACC and parts of the left superior medial prefrontal cortex. After successful treatment an inverted relative strength of the anti-correlations was observed in the perigenual prefrontal cortex (pgPFC). No effects on sgACC rsFC were observed in non-responders.


CONCLUSIONS
Strong rsFC anti-correlation between the sgACC and parts of the left prefrontal cortex could be indicative of a beneficial outcome. Accelerated HF-rTMS treatment designs have the potential to acutely adjust deregulated sgACC neuronal networks in TRD patients.
Department of Psychiatry and Medical Psychology, Ghent University , Ghent , Belgium.
Chris
C
Baeken
Daniele
D
Marinazzo
Guo-Rong
GR
Wu
Peter
P
Van Schuerbeek
Johan
J
De Mey
Igor
I
Marchetti
Marie-Anne
MA
Vanderhasselt
Jonathan
J
Remue
Robert
R
Luypaert
Rudi
R
De Raedt
D000328:Adult; D061218:Depressive Disorder, Treatment-Resistant / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D059907:Functional Neuroimaging / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D006179:Gyrus Cinguli / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010919:Placebos; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D010919:Placebos
HF-rTMS; functional connectivity; major depression; subgenual anterior cingulate cortex; treatment-resistance