Stimulation of Parieto-hippocampal Connectivity in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder

This study aims to investigate the effects of individualized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of parieto-hippocampal functional connectivity in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Specifically, patients will be randomized to one of three groups and will receive 15 days of rTMS over three weeks. Each day they will receive one active session of rTMS over the dorsolateral parietal cortex (DLPFC) and depending on group assignment another session either A) active rTMS over DLPFC, B) active rTMS over left and right lateral parietal cortex (LPC), or C) sham rTMS over DLPFC or LPC. Stimulation targets in the LPC will be individualized for each patient based on their resting-state functional connectivity between the hippocampus and LPC. Clinical, neuropsychological and fMRI data will be acquired before and after the treatment course.