Denne siden ble automatisk oversatt og nøyaktigheten av oversettelsen er ikke garantert. Vennligst referer til engelsk versjon for en kildetekst.

Effectiveness of Clustered Versus Tapered Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) as Maintenance Therapy Following Successful Acute rTMS Treatment in Patients With Depressive Syndrome (ERTE)

21. juli 2026 oppdatert av: Ulrike Vogelmann, Technical University of Munich

Effectiveness of rTMS as Maintenance Therapy; Clustered rTMS vs. Tapered rTMS

The goal of this clinical trial is to compare two maintenance transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) strategies following successful acute theta burst stimulation (TBS) treatment in adults with depressive syndrome. It will also evaluate whether the two maintenance strategies differ in their ability to maintain the antidepressant treatment response over 24 weeks. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does clustered maintenance rTMS reduce the risk of depressive relapse or clinically relevant symptom worsening compared with tapered maintenance rTMS? Do the two maintenance strategies differ in depressive symptoms, global clinical status, psychosocial functioning, and MRI-based biomarkers over time?

Researchers will compare a clustered maintenance rTMS protocol with a tapered maintenance rTMS protocol.

Participants will:

  • Complete successful acute TBS treatment before study enrollment
  • Be randomly assigned to either clustered or tapered maintenance rTMS
  • Receive 20 maintenance stimulation sessions over 20 weeks
  • Attend clinical follow-up assessments every 4 weeks for a total follow-up -period of 24 weeks
  • Undergo optional multimodal MRI examinations at the Munich study site

Studieoversikt

Status

Har ikke rekruttert ennå

Forhold

Intervensjon / Behandling

Detaljert beskrivelse

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), including intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS), is an established treatment for depressive disorders. While the efficacy of acute treatment has been demonstrated in numerous clinical trials, a substantial proportion of patients experience symptom worsening or relapse following successful acute treatment if no maintenance therapy is provided. Several maintenance strategies have been proposed, including tapered treatment schedules with gradually decreasing treatment frequency and clustered treatment schedules consisting of repeated blocks of consecutive stimulation sessions. However, the available evidence is limited, and no randomized controlled trial has directly compared these two maintenance approaches using identical treatment duration and the same total number of stimulation sessions.

This prospective, randomized, controlled, two-center study aims to compare two maintenance treatment strategies following successful acute iTBS in adults with depressive syndrome. Patients who achieve response or remission after a standardized acute iTBS treatment course will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either a tapered maintenance protocol or a clustered maintenance protocol. Randomization will be stratified by study site and baseline depression severity. Because of the different treatment protocols, blinding of participants and treating clinicians is not feasible. MRI data analyses will be performed blinded to treatment allocation.

Both maintenance protocols include 20 stimulation sessions delivered over a 20-week maintenance period following a four-week stimulation-free interval after completion of the acute treatment phase. The treatment protocols differ only in the temporal distribution of maintenance sessions. The tapered protocol gradually reduces treatment frequency over time, whereas the clustered protocol delivers stimulation in four clusters of five consecutive daily sessions.

The primary objective is to compare the time to depressive relapse or clinically relevant symptom worsening during the 24-week follow-up period. Clinically relevant symptom worsening is defined using predefined changes in the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), and relapse is defined as the recurrence of at least moderate depressive symptoms together with loss of the previously achieved treatment response.

Secondary objectives include comparing longitudinal changes in depressive symptom severity, patient-reported depressive symptoms, global clinical status, and psychosocial functioning using the MADRS, Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Clinical Global Impression (CGI), and Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF), respectively.

An additional objective of the study is to investigate neurobiological correlates of maintenance treatment using multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). At the Munich study site, participants will be offered optional multimodal MRI examinations. Participation in the MRI component is voluntary and is not required for participation in the clinical trial. MRI assessments include resting-state functional MRI, arterial spin labeling, diffusion imaging including NODDI, and quantitative MRI. These analyses aim to identify imaging biomarkers associated with maintenance of antidepressant effects, symptom worsening, and relapse risk following maintenance iTBS. Participation in the MRI component is optional and is not required for participation in the clinical trial.

Studietype

Intervensjonell

Registrering (Antatt)

100

Fase

  • Ikke aktuelt

Kontakter og plasseringer

Denne delen inneholder kontaktinformasjon for de som utfører studien, og informasjon om hvor denne studien blir utført.

Studiekontakt

Studiesteder

    • Bavaria
      • Munich, Bavaria, Tyskland, 81675
        • TUM Universitiy Hospital, Department for Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Deltakelseskriterier

Forskere ser etter personer som passer til en bestemt beskrivelse, kalt kvalifikasjonskriterier. Noen eksempler på disse kriteriene er en persons generelle helsetilstand eller tidligere behandlinger.

Kvalifikasjonskriterier

Alder som er kvalifisert for studier

  • Voksen
  • Eldre voksen

Tar imot friske frivillige

Nei

Beskrivelse

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age ≥18 years
  • Diagnosis of a depressive syndrome
  • Completion of an acute treatment course consisting of 20 sessions of theta burst stimulation (TBS) over 4 weeks
  • Response or remission following acute treatment. Response is defined as a ≥50% reduction in the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score
  • Remission is defined as a MADRS total score ≤10.
  • Clinical eligibility for maintenance TBS
  • Provision of written informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Non-response to acute TBS treatment
  • Contraindications to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or theta burst stimulation (TBS)
  • Active substance use disorder (substance use within the past 3 months)
  • Acute psychiatric or medical conditions that preclude study participation

Additional exclusion criteria for the MRI component:

- Contraindications to MRI (e.g., non-MRI-compatible metallic implants or severe claustrophobia)

Studieplan

Denne delen gir detaljer om studieplanen, inkludert hvordan studien er utformet og hva studien måler.

Hvordan er studiet utformet?

Designdetaljer

  • Primært formål: Behandling
  • Tildeling: Ikke-randomisert
  • Intervensjonsmodell: Parallell tildeling
  • Masking: Enkelt

Våpen og intervensjoner

Deltakergruppe / Arm
Intervensjon / Behandling
Eksperimentell: Tapered Maintenance rTMS TBS
Participants receive maintenance theta burst stimulation (TBS) according to a tapered treatment schedule. Following a four-week stimulation-free interval after successful acute TBS, participants receive two sessions per week during weeks 5 to 8 and one session per week during weeks 9 to 20, resulting in a total of 20 maintenance sessions.
Participants receive maintenance rTMS treatment (intermittent theta burst stimulation) following successful acute iTBS treatment. Participants are randomized to either a tapered or a clustered maintenance protocol. Both protocols consist of 20 maintenance stimulation sessions delivered over 20 weeks following a four-week stimulation-free interval but differ in the temporal distribution of stimulation sessions.
Eksperimentell: Clustered Maintenance TBS
Participants receive maintenance theta burst stimulation (TBS) according to a clustered treatment schedule. Following a four-week stimulation-free interval after successful acute TBS, participants receive four treatment clusters consisting of five sessions per week (1 session per day) during weeks 5, 10, 15, and 20, resulting in a total of 20 maintenance sessions.
Participants receive maintenance rTMS treatment (intermittent theta burst stimulation) following successful acute iTBS treatment. Participants are randomized to either a tapered or a clustered maintenance protocol. Both protocols consist of 20 maintenance stimulation sessions delivered over 20 weeks following a four-week stimulation-free interval but differ in the temporal distribution of stimulation sessions.

Hva måler studien?

Primære resultatmål

Resultatmål
Tiltaksbeskrivelse
Tidsramme
Time to depressive relapse or clinically relevant symptom worsening
Tidsramme: From randomization through Week 24
Time from randomization to the first occurrence of depressive relapse or clinically relevant symptom worsening during the 24-week follow-up period. Clinically relevant symptom worsening is defined as a transition to a higher depression severity category together with an increase of at least 5 points in the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score. Relapse is defined as recurrence of at least moderate depressive symptoms (MADRS ≥20) together with loss of the previously achieved treatment response.
From randomization through Week 24

Sekundære resultatmål

Resultatmål
Tiltaksbeskrivelse
Tidsramme
Change in Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale Total Score
Tidsramme: Baseline and Weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24
Change in depressive symptom severity as assessed using the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). The MADRS total score ranges from 0 to 60, with higher scores indicating greater severity of depressive symptoms.
Baseline and Weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24
Change in Beck Depression Inventory II Total Score
Tidsramme: Baseline and Weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24
Change in patient-reported depressive symptom severity as assessed using the Beck Depression Inventory II Scale. Higher total scores indicate greater severity of depressive symptoms.
Baseline and Weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24
Change in Global Assessment of Functioning Score (GAF)
Tidsramme: Baseline and Weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24
Change in psychosocial functioning as assessed using the Global Assessment of Functioning scale. Scores range from 0 to 100, with lower scores indicating greater impairment in psychosocial functioning.
Baseline and Weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24
Change in Clinical Global Impression Score (CGI)
Tidsramme: Baseline and Weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24
Change in global clinical status as assessed using the Clinical Global Impression scale.
Baseline and Weeks 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, and 24
Change in Resting-State Functional Connectivity
Tidsramme: During Maintenance rtMS Week 0-24
Change in resting-state functional connectivity derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging.
During Maintenance rtMS Week 0-24
Change in Cerebral Perfusion Measured by Arterial Spin Labeling
Tidsramme: During maintenance treatment week 0-24
Change in cerebral perfusion parameters derived from arterial spin labeling magnetic resonance imaging.
During maintenance treatment week 0-24
Change in Diffusion MRI Measures of Structural Connectivity and Microstructure
Tidsramme: during maintenance treatment week 0 to 24
Change in structural connectivity and tissue microstructure measures derived from diffusion imaging, including neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging.
during maintenance treatment week 0 to 24
Change in Quantitative MRI Parameters
Tidsramme: During maintenance treatment week 0-24
Change in quantitative magnetic resonance imaging parameters, including T1 mapping, T2 mapping, and magnetization transfer mapping.
During maintenance treatment week 0-24

Samarbeidspartnere og etterforskere

Det er her du vil finne personer og organisasjoner som er involvert i denne studien.

Sponsor

Samarbeidspartnere

Studierekorddatoer

Disse datoene sporer fremdriften for innsending av studieposter og sammendragsresultater til ClinicalTrials.gov. Studieposter og rapporterte resultater gjennomgås av National Library of Medicine (NLM) for å sikre at de oppfyller spesifikke kvalitetskontrollstandarder før de legges ut på det offentlige nettstedet.

Studer hoveddatoer

Studiestart (Antatt)

1. august 2026

Primær fullføring (Antatt)

30. september 2028

Studiet fullført (Antatt)

30. september 2028

Datoer for studieregistrering

Først innsendt

21. juli 2026

Først innsendt som oppfylte QC-kriteriene

21. juli 2026

Først lagt ut (Faktiske)

27. juli 2026

Oppdateringer av studieposter

Sist oppdatering lagt ut (Faktiske)

27. juli 2026

Siste oppdatering sendt inn som oppfylte QC-kriteriene

21. juli 2026

Sist bekreftet

1. juli 2026

Mer informasjon

Begreper knyttet til denne studien

Andre studie-ID-numre

  • VISIONS25-MU5
  • 2026-187-S-CT (Annen identifikator: Ethics Committee of the Technical University of Munich)

Plan for individuelle deltakerdata (IPD)

Planlegger du å dele individuelle deltakerdata (IPD)?

UBESLUTTE

IPD-planbeskrivelse

A decision regarding the sharing of individual participant data has not yet been made.

Legemiddel- og utstyrsinformasjon, studiedokumenter

Studerer et amerikansk FDA-regulert medikamentprodukt

Nei

Studerer et amerikansk FDA-regulert enhetsprodukt

Nei

produkt produsert i og eksportert fra USA

Nei

Denne informasjonen ble hentet direkte fra nettstedet clinicaltrials.gov uten noen endringer. Hvis du har noen forespørsler om å endre, fjerne eller oppdatere studiedetaljene dine, vennligst kontakt register@clinicaltrials.gov. Så snart en endring er implementert på clinicaltrials.gov, vil denne også bli oppdatert automatisk på nettstedet vårt. .