How much can patients expect to improve with six weeks of deep TMS for OCD?

Abstract

Introduction Deep TMS with the H7 coil over the dmPFC/ACC was recently approved for the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) by the FDA based on a twenty-nine-treatment-six-week sham-controlled study. Objective Quantify the improvement patients and clinicians can expect from their initial six-weeks of treatment. Methods The current analysis (n = 68) combined data from two groups of patients: – patients from the multi-center study who received active dTMS (n = 42) – an open label sample (n = 26). All patients were assessed on a weekly basis with Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS). Results The YBOCS score decreased significantly by 8.6 ± 0.8 which represents a 30.1% reduction from baseline through week 6 of treatment (P Conclusions Six weeks of dTMS treatment for OCD resulted in both statistically and clinically significant improvement. Notably, in eight out of nine patients who were treated for more than twenty-nine treatments, their scores improved. Patients with higher baseline severity are less likely to achieve response within 6 weeks and may benefit from longer treatment. Similarly, responders may reach remission with extended treatment courses.