TMS Therapy is based on knowledge of physical principles dating back nearly 175 years. In 1831, Michael Faraday discovered that a magnetic field could be converted to an electrical current. That basic discovery has been applied to create a powerful and focused electromagnetic coil that can stimulate the brain. During TMS Therapy, the electromagnetic coil is placed on the head over the left prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain thought to be involved in mood regulation. The coil produces a pulsed magnetic field. The magnetic field passes non-invasively into the brain and induces an electric field that stimulates the nerve cells in the are of the brain beneath the coil.
oooo* Since the 1980s, TMS Therapy has been used in humans to study the nerve fibers that carry information about movements from the brain cortex to the spinal cord and the muscles.
oooo* In the late 1990s physicians began to explore the therapeutic potential of TMS Therapy for the treatment of a variety of diseases, with depression being the most thoroughly studied to date.
oooo* More than 30 randomized, controlled trials of TMS Therapy as a treatment for depression have been published by investigators around the world.
oooo* Neuronetics conducted the largest controlled, multi-center TMS study ever conducted (n=301) in patients with major depression, demonstrating its safety and efficacy for this use.