Interest of targeting either cortical area Brodmann 9 or 46 in rTMS treatment for depression: a preliminary randomized study.

Abstract Objective To assess the interest of specifically targeting Brodmann Areas (BA) 9 or 46 for rTMS treatment of depression. Methods Patients with Treatment-Resistant Depression were randomly assigned to two treatment groups to receive either rTMS on BA 9 or on BA 46. Each patient underwent 10 sessions of 1Hz-rTMS for 2weeks. The Hamilton and Montgomery–Asberg Depression Rating Scales (HDRS, MADRS) were used under blind conditions to assess the therapeutic response (50% improvement). A Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to compare the depression rating scales scores obtained before and after the 10 rTMS sessions for each of the two groups. The therapeutic results in the two groups were…