Precision Network Targeting of TMS in Depression

Speaker: Mark Eldaief, M.D., MSc - Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is an FDA approved treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). However, the mechanism(s) through which it exerts its therapeutic effects remain unknown. Several treatment paradigms, including the SNT protocol, leverage resting-state functional connectivity to target portions of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) that are most anti-correlated to the subgenual cingulate cortex (sgACC). Still, such approaches to not take into account the location of canonical large-scale networks in DLPFC, even though considerable evidence from neuroimaging and lesion studies support that these networks have distinct roles in cognition and emotion regulation. My talk will present an ongoing project in which we delineate functional network architecture in the individual using precision MRI scanning and then, in separate sessions, stimulate each of these networks with maximum selectivity and intensity using advanced E-field modeling. This work is meant as a springboard for clinical trials in which MDD patients are randomized to stimulation at different network targets. This will establish network mechanisms of the therapeutic effects of TMS and pave the way to personalized neuromodulation strategies tailored to an individual patient's idiosyncratic functional topography and symptom profile. 

This will be a virtual event.

For the Teams link to this event, please email psych-events@musc.edu.