Theta burst stimulation (TBS)

rTMS treatment protocols continue to be investigated and improved. New patterned rTMS protocols, where short high frequency trains of TMS pulses are are interleaved with really short breaks, are referred to as Theta Burst Stimulation (TBS), intermittent TBS (iTBS) and continues TBS (cTBS) with frequencies up to 100Hz for the short trains. They discharge much more often per minute, and were found to be very effective in achieving brain plasticity effects in relatively short time.

In accordance with the clinical tests performed by leading research hospitals in Canada, in patients with treatment-resistant depression, iTBS was non-inferior to 10 Hz rTMS for the treatment of depression (Blumberger et al 2018). Both treatments had low numbers of dropouts and similar side-effects, safety, and tolerability profiles. With iTBS, the number of patients treated per day with current rTMS devices can be increased several times without compromising clinical effectiveness.
In summary, the 3-minute iTBS treatment is as safe and effective for the depression treatment as the conventional rTMS sessions that take more than 20 minutes. It was recently approved by the FDA for depression treatment in the USA.

Our powerful advanced therapeutic rTMS setup allows you to operate this effective and very fast intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (iTBS) protocol, with frequencies up to 100Hz, without overheating due to superior cooling technology.