Neuronetics, Inc. announced the publication of significant clinical findings in Brain Stimulation: Basic, Translational, and Clinical Research in Neuromodulation, the premier journal in the field of neuromodulation. This analysis concludes that while early symptom improvement in major depressive disorder (MDD) is strongly predictive of response at the completion of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) treatment (36 sessions), lack of early improvement does not predict final treatment outcome. The findings are based on research from the NeuroStar Outcomes Registry, the larger registry of depression outcomes.

In a sample of 7,215 MDD patients treated with NeuroStar TMS Therapy, two rigorous analytical methods were used to evaluate the accuracy of early treatment progress (after 10, 20, and 30 sessions) in predicting final patient outcomes after 36 sessions. Researchers found that slow improvement early in treatment does not accurately predict final non-responder status. In fact, at 10 sessions, predicting a non-responder was only 51% accurate and at 20 sessions, it was only 63% accurate when analyzing for maximum prediction accuracy as described in the paper.

Ultimately, a substantial proportion of patients with low levels of improvement early in treatment experienced a meaningful reduction in their symptoms by the end of the treatment course, emphasizing the importance of completing a full treatment regimen. Conversely, the analysis confirmed that early improvement in MDD symptoms was strongly predictive of a successful clinical outcome.