Remission from depression and tms over left DLPFC share the same network connectivity changes

Introduction: One potential explanation for rTMS treatment-effects is that rTMS triggers regulation processes altering brain-connectivity towards a state similar to the one observed in drug-free fully remitted MDD-patients. We compared connectivity-patterns in responders (MDD-patients after 3-months pharmacotherapy) to drug-free remitted MDD-patients. We employed an unbiased analysis approach based on 20 well-established resting state networks (Biswal 2010). In an independent study (Tik 2018) we applied the same data analysis approach in healthy volunteers to investigate connectivity-changes from rTMS application over left DLPFC.