Brain stimulator treats depression by beaming magnetic pulses through the skull oct 2
 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/ar...ses-skull.html
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:56 AM on 21st October 2008
The magnetic therapy was found to be effective in a quarter of depressed patients who had no relief from their first anti-depressant
The U.S. government has approved the first non-invasive brain stimulator to treat depression - a device that beams magnetic pulses through the skull. The pulses trigger small electrical charges that spark brain cells to fire.
The stimulator, called 'Transcranial magnetic stimulation' or TMS, causes less risk than other methods such as surgically implanted electrodes or the last resort of shock therapy.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the therapy, made by NeuroStar, specifically for patients who had no relief from their first anti-depressant, offering them a different option than trying pill after pill.

'We're opening up a whole new area of medicine,' says Dr Mark George of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, who helped pioneer use of TMS in depression.
While there is a big need for innovative approaches - at least one in five depression patients is treatment-resistant - the question is just how much benefit TMS offers.
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