Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40588501›Full record

ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2025

Targeting depression circuitry with H1 coil Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: a retrospective circuit mapping study.

Samantha Baldi, Nicole Chiulli, Stephan Palm, Summer Frandsen, Gaby S Pell, Samuel Zibman, Josias Rodriguez-Ponde, Joshua C Brown, Shan H Siddiqi

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
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.

Samantha BaldiCenter for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. sbaldi@bwh.harvard.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3384-247X
Nicole ChiulliCenter for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Stephan PalmCenter for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Summer FrandsenCenter for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Gaby S PellDepartment of Life Sciences and the Zlotowski Centre for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Samuel ZibmanDepartment of Life Sciences and the Zlotowski Centre for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Josias Rodriguez-PondeCenter for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
Joshua C BrownDepartment of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0887-2746
Shan H SiddiqiCenter for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0967-9289

Funding

Targeted modulation of symptom-specific brain circuits with transcranial magnetic stimulationR21MH126271 · NIMH · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI FOX, MICHAEL D · 2021 to 2022
$492k
NIMH NIH HHS R21 MH126271U.S. Department of Health & Human Services | National Institutes of Health (NIH) R21MH126271
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The efficacy of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) for depression may depend on targeting specific brain circuits. However, this has not been tested for TMS with the H1 coil, a widely used device believed to target more broadly and deeply than TMS with figure-of-8 coils. This study examined whether targeting a specific brain circuit with H1 coil TMS treatment may impact depressive symptom improvement. We retrospectively analyzed data from 97 patients at McLean Hospital, who received at least 19 TMS sessions and had incidentally completed an anatomical brain MRI. We modeled each patient's electric (E-)field using SimNIBS and estimated the connectivity of the E-field using a normative connectome (n = 1000), which was correlated with depression improvement as measured by the Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology. H1 E-fields improving depression were preferentially connected to a distinct brain circuit, validated with leave-one-out cross-validation (p = 0.0005). This circuit was significantly similar to a predefined causal depression circuit (spatial r = 0.59, p = 0.04) derived from TMS, deep brain stimulation, and lesion studies. E-fields with greater connectivity similarity to this circuit led to greater symptom improvement (r = 0.41, p < 0.001). Post-hoc analyses revealed that more posterior coil positioning increases H1 E-field overlap with the depression circuit, with high overlap at scalp locations 3-6 cm anterior to the motor hotspot. Thus, H1 coil stimulation sites that improve depression converge on a common causal depression circuit. Prospective studies are needed to validate these findings.

Indexed as

BrainDepressionTranscranial Magnetic StimulationAdultAgedConnectomeFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective Studies

Identifiers

PMID40588501
PMCPMC12436620

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.