What Is A Typical Course Of TMS Treatment?

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive treatment for mental illnesses, notably depression and anxiety. TMS has proven to be highly effective for treating and managing the various symptoms of treatment-resistant major depression. TMS patients are not given muscle relaxants or anesthesia; thus, they face zero downtime and little to no side effects that typically subside within a week.

Typically, a TMS course has 30 or 35 sessions that are delivered over six weeks. Due to the treatment’s noninvasive nature, sessions can be carried out in a Bronx doctor’s office or an outpatient setting. Before each session, doctors or technicians may run a “motor threshold determination” exam, which allows them to determine the correct position and intensity of magnetic pulses for each patient.

At the start of the course, the doctor gathers all the necessary variables for the treatment, which include:

• Determining if the suitability of the patient for the therapy
• The optimal part of the brain, where the procedure will be administered
• The intensity of magnetic pulses as well as the duration of each session
• The number of sessions in the course for successful treatment

During a TMS session, the doctor places the component containing the electromagnetic coil against the patient’s scalp near your forehead. The electromagnet coil creates a magnetic pulse, penetrates the skull and scalp to stimulate neurotransmitters in the specific part of the brain that is responsible for mood control and depression.

Currently, there is no standard way of performing the treatment. Therefore, doctors and experts may use different techniques as new information about the most effective ways of administering TMS emerges through research and experience. Treatment variables and plans vary from one patient to another, which is based on their response to the treatment.

Similar to any form of treatment for depression and other illnesses, the parameters of the therapy can change according to the unique, individual differences of each patient. The doctors may decide to make necessary alterations to the parameters during the course to increase the effectiveness of the treatment. Typically, patients will have a session every weekday, five days a week, for six to eight weeks. The prices of single sessions and complete the courses vary from one place to another. However, in the Bronx, the costs typically range between $400-500 per session and about $15,000 for a course.

When compared to ECT, which is another therapy used for treating depression patients; a complete course of 30 TMS therapy treatment sessions has shown to have a similar positive effect of 10 sessions of electroconvulsive therapy treatments. TMS isn’t as invasive as ECT, which has shown to cause brain cell damage and temporary short-term memory loss. TMS also has considerably low downtime when compared to ECT, which requires a week-long hospital stay during the initial week. Besides, the relapse time of TMS for depression is much longer than those patients who receive ECT treatments.