TBS Treatment for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Depression is a highly disabling disease that is prevalent throughout the world. The treatments proposed and studied to date have shown to be partially effective in treating this condition. Neuromodulation strategies have been used as an alternative, especially for refractory and challenging cases. In this context, studies investigating the effectiveness of transcranial magnetic stimulation, including the theta burst stimulation (TBS) modality, have been increasing in number. However, there is still a lack of information seeking to explore the maximum effectiveness in the TBS modality. Therefore, the investigators developed a new stimulation protocol consisting of 3 TBS sessions per day, with an offer of 1200 pulses per session and a 30-minute interval between sessions. The protocol will be performed for 15 days, totalizing 45 stimulation sessions. The stimulations will be directed to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (F3) and will be performed in a Magventure MagPro R30 device. The investigators will select 100 patients with unipolar major depression, following previously established inclusion and exclusion criteria, and will apply the protocol randomly, dividing the patients into an active and placebo group. The research team hypothesized that the active group patients will have greater improvement in symptoms of depression assessed by the 17-item hamilton depression scale over patients of the placebo group. In addition, other scales will be used for secondary outcomes. The researchers also hypothesized that there will be no difference between patients placed in the active or placebo groups in terms of side effects.