An interventional study of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (iTBS) in Depression, Major Depressive Disorder and Major Depressive Episode, sponsored by University of British Columbia. Recruiting at 2 sites in Canada. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-25.
Sponsored by University of British Columbia · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The aim of this study is to test the hypothesis that low-frequency rTMS (LFR) works as well as the established intermittent thetaburst rTMS (iTBS) treatment for treatment resistant depression (TRD).
In this multi-centre, triple-blinded, non-inferiority trial 420 patients with TRD will be recruited at two academic centres (UBC, CAMH). Patients will be randomised to receive either iTBS or LFR for 30 sessions. The primary outcome will be the improvement on a depression scale. Secondary outcome will be improvement of suicidal ideation. A secondary aim is to test the predictive capacity of a novel, easy to implement heart rate based biomarkers (i.e. heart rate variability).
8,057 studies on the registry are indexed under Depression; 1,641 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 480 is above the median of 84 across 6,720 interventional studies indexed under Depression.
Browse Depression studies →University of British Columbia is the lead sponsor of 1,309 studies on the registry; 253 are open to participants now.
Of its 6 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 1 (17%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Exclusion Criteria:
iTBS to the L-DLPFC
Device: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation · Device: Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (iTBS)
1Hz stimulation to the R-DLPFC
Device: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation · Device: Low Frequency Right (LFR)
rTMS will employ the MagPro X100/R30 stimulator equipped with the cool-B70 as we used a cool-B70 in our past non-inferiority trial. The dose will be a 120% rMT in accordance to our latest trial using iTBS. The target area to stimulate will be the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) for LFR and the left DLPFC for iTBS as established in prior clinical trials. The localization of both targets will follow the well-established procedures for either R-DLPFC or L-DLPFC using a heuristic method.
Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (iTBS)
Low Frequency Right (LFR)
Depression severity
17 item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-17) Change
Time frame: 30 days
Suicidal ideation
Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale Screen Version (C-SSRS) Change
Time frame: 30 days
Anxiety severity
Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) Change
Time frame: 30 days
Depression severity
Self-rated 16-item Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptoms (QIDS-16) Change
Time frame: 30 days
Plan to share: No
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University of British Columbia