Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39111747›Full record

ArticlePsychiatry investigation2024

Effect of Low-Intensity Transcranial Focused Ultrasound Stimulation in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Sham-Controlled Clinical Trial.

Jooyoung Oh, Jin Sun Ryu, Junhyung Kim, Soojeong Kim, Hyu Seok Jeong, Kyung Ran Kim, Hyun-Chul Kim, Seung-Schik Yoo, Jeong-Ho Seok

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Psychiatry investigation, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
27citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

27 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  12. Neural Bases of Collective Social Behavior and Group Interactions across Species.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2026
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  14. Advances in the Clinical Application of Neurostimulation in Major Depression.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors.

Jooyoung OhDepartment of Psychiatry, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Jin Sun RyuDepartment of Psychiatry, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Junhyung KimDepartment of Psychiatry, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Soojeong KimDepartment of Psychiatry, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Hyu Seok JeongDepartment of Psychiatry, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Kyung Ran KimInstitute of Behavioral Science in Medicine, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
Hyun-Chul KimDepartment of Artificial Intelligence, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Republic of Korea.
Seung-Schik YooDepartment of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
Jeong-Ho SeokDepartment of Psychiatry, Gangnam Severance Hospital, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Funding

Korea Medical Device DevelopmentMinistry of Health and Welfare RS-2020-KD000282Neurosona Co. Ltd.
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveLow-intensity transcranial focused ultrasound (tFUS) has emerged as a promising non-invasive brain stimulation modality with high spatial selectivity and the ability to reach deep brain areas. The present study aimed to investigate the safety and effectiveness of low-intensity tFUS in treating major depressive disorder.

methodsParticipants were recruited in an outpatient clinic and randomly assigned to either the verum tFUS or sham stimulation group. The intervention group received six sessions of tFUS stimulation to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex over two weeks. Neuropsychological assessments were conducted before and after the sessions. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) was also performed to evaluate changes in functional connectivity (FC). The primary outcome measure was the change in depressive symptoms, assessed with the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS).

resultsThe tFUS stimulation sessions were well tolerated without any undesirable side effects. The analysis revealed a significant main effect of session sequence on the MADRS scores and significant interactions between the session sequences and groups. The rsfMRI analysis showed a higher FC correlation between the right superior part of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) and several other brain regions in the verum group compared with the sham group.

conclusionOur results reveal that tFUS stimulation clinically improved MADRS scores with network-level modulation of a sgACC subregion. This randomized, sham-controlled clinical trial, the first study of its kind, demonstrated the safety and probable efficacy of tFUS stimulation for the treatment of depression.

Indexed as

Dorsolateral prefrontal cortexFocused ultrasoundMajor depressive disorderNeuromodulationSubgenual anterior cingulate cortex

Identifiers

PMID39111747
PMCPMC11321877

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.