Effect of high frequency rTMS on visuo-spatial memory in patients with Depressive Disorder

Background and Aim: Left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LDLPFC) plays a critical role in cognitive functions including visuo-spatial memory. Hypofunction of the LDLPFC was frequently observed in Depression. On the other hand, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a novel, safe and non-invasive therapeutic tool for neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression but efficiency of this intervention on cognitive functions impairment in patients with Depression is not clear. Methods: twenty-four patients with depressive disorder aged ۲۵-۴۵ years were randomly selected and assigned to two groups, experimental and sham. The experimental group received ۱۰ sessions of rTMS treatment over the DLPFC (۲۰Hz, ۵s, ۲۱۰۰ pulses and ۸۵% of MT) during two weeks. Visuo-spatial memory was assessed pre-and post-treatment using a computerized version of the Corsi blocks task pre-and post rTMS intervention. Results: The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of rTMS application over the DLPFC on visuo-spatial memory in depressive disorder. Data were analyzed using paired t-test and ANOVA. The results showed the experimental group performed better than the sham group in the Corsi task. Indeed, the significant increase in memory span was observed in the experimental group compared with sham group. To sum up, rTMS on the left DLPFC improved performance in the Corsi test. However, more studies will be necessary to establish the effect of rTMS on cognitive functions in patients with depression.

کلیدواژه ها:

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) ، DLPFC ، Visuo-spatial memory ، Depressive Disorder