An interventional study of TMS: single session intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) to dorsomedial prefrontal target in individuals with major depressive disorder, via MagVenture MagPro R30 device / Cool-DB80 A/P coil and SHAM (inactive) TMS stimulation in Major Depressive Disorder, sponsored by San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-09-08.
Sponsored by San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science
Depression is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality, conferring substantial healthcare and societal costs. By studying methods to non-invasively target neural circuitry involved in reward responsivity, information generated by this project will improve understanding of the circuit alterations that underlie motivation and pleasure deficits in depression, and could also lead to the development of biologically-based markers of neurostimulation-based treatment response.
Rewards play a central role in driving behavior. Reward system dysfunctions are increasingly conceptualized as transdiagnostic phenomena, relevant to many psychopathologies. The opportunity to directly modulate reward processing through targeted intervention could have broad mechanistic and clinical value in psychiatry, both for disorders in which reward-responsive circuits are overactive or underactive. The overarching goal of this proposal focuses on one such opportunity in individuals with depression: the investigators will evaluate whether an electrophysiological measure of reward consummation, the Reward Positivity (RewP), which is consistently blunted in depression, can be moved by targeted neurostimulation of a prefrontal-striatal reward circuit.
The premise of the proposed work is a well-developed empirical literature that substantiates the RewP as a measure of subjective reward valuation, with depression-associated blunting of the RewP likely reflecting attenuated reward consummation. Non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), modulate cortical activity and offer novel avenues to probe reward circuitry. Previous research establishes that excitation of a fronto-cingulate reward circuit with rTMS increases RewP magnitude in nicotine addiction, but the extent to which blunted RewP in depression can be rescued via rTMS is unknown.
The investigators therefore propose pilot research to begin to address this literature gap via a repeated-measures study that uses a multi-measure approach to probe reward system functioning under passive and performance-dependent reward conditions. The investigators will examine sham-controlled effects of single session intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) to a dorsomedial prefrontal/anterior cingulate cortex (dmPFC/dACC) target in individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD). The investigators will examine iTBS effects on anticipatory and later consummatory reward measures in addition to our primary focus on the RewP, thus capitalizing on the temporal precision EEG affords by decomposing reward processing into subcomponent processes and examining their differential sensitivity to neurostimulation.
Specific Aim 1 examines case-control RewP differences before stimulation, and changes in RewP magnitude as a function of iTBS in MDD.
Specific Aim 2 examines case-control and within-group MDD iTBS effects on a later-stage consummatory reward measure, the late positive potential (LPP).
Specific Aim 3 examines case-control and within-group MDD iTBS effects on reward anticipation.
Our approach is innovative because i) there is little precedent for using the well-validated RewP or similar measures as indices of rTMS modulation, despite putative hypofunction of reward circuitry in MDD and ii) the investigators target a region strongly implicated in depressive pathophysiology but distinct from the Food and Drug Administration-approved dorsolateral prefrontal rTMS target for depression and ii). Here, the investigators evaluate measures tapping reward anticipation and consummation to assay positive valence system functioning in response to iTBS, setting the stage for future biomarker validation and full-course rTMS clinical trials.
3,041 studies on the registry are indexed under Depressive Disorder, Major; 588 are open to participants now.
This study's enrollment of 98 is above the median of 79 across 2,530 interventional studies indexed under Depressive Disorder, Major.
Browse Depressive Disorder, Major studies →San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center is the lead sponsor of 21 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.
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Inclusion Criteria:
All participants
Participants with MDD
Exclusion Criteria (all participants):
Exclusion criteria (Participants with MDD only)
Exclusion Criteria (HCs only)
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.
DSM diagnostic criteria
The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Device: MagVenture MagPro R30 device with a Cool-DB80 A/P coil (Farum, Denmark) Stimulation: intermittent theta stimulation (iTBS): the investigators will stimulate a dorsomedial prefrontal cortex target at the scalp location (0x 60y 60z). Standard iTBS of 50Hz triplet bursts, 5 times each second with a 2 s on / 8 s off duty cycle for 600 pulses per hemisphere (1200 pulses total) will be applied for a total stimulation time of 6:40 minutes, per session; total session length, including setup is 10-15 min.
Device: TMS: single session intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) to dorsomedial prefrontal target in individuals with major depressive disorder, via MagVenture MagPro R30 device / Cool-DB80 A/P coil
Device: MagVenture MagPro R30 device with a Cool-DB80 A/P coil (Farum, Denmark) Stimulation: sham stimulation (SHAM): Sham stimulation will entail the same procedures for the active stimulation day, but with the sham side of the DB-80 A/P placed exactly on the same anatomical target in the same position and duration, but without any active stimulation. \*Note, iTBS and SHAM stimulation sessions will occur on separate days scheduled one week apart (counterbalanced, across subjects). The two stimulation visits follow identical procedures (with the sole difference being active vs. sham rTMS stimulation), with each followed directly by post-stimulation EEG assessment with SLOT and MID tasks.
Device: SHAM (inactive) TMS stimulation
HC and MDD participants will have visits for clinical assessment and a baseline EEG session to complete reward processing tasks (SLOT AND MID). The SLOT task is a 288-trial EEG task developed in our laboratory. Design features mimic structural characteristics common to real-word slot machines, including sound effects and visualizations, and the display consists of 3 sequentially populated slot reels. Participants initiate each trial via button press, after which timing of the slot reels is automated, such that reward outcome is independent of task performance. The MID task is a 130-trial EEG task designed to model anticipatory and consummatory sub-stages of reward processing in the context of participants being rewarded based on their response times to a cued target detection task.
Active Session: Single session of standard iTBS of 50Hz triplet bursts, 5 times each second with a 2 s on / 8 s off duty cycle for 600 pulses per hemisphere (1200 pulses total) will be applied for a total stimulation time of 6:40 minutes
Sham neurostimulation (SHAM) entails use of the sham side of the D-B80 A/P placed over the same anatomical target, without any active stimulation.
Targeted neurostimulation effects on reward feedback evaluation
Within the MDD group, the investigators will examine whether neurostimulation of a dmPFC target induces changes in the Reward Positivity (RewP) event-related potential component by comparing RewP amplitude after iTBS to RewP amplitude after sham stimulation.
Time frame: EEG measurements are collected directly after neurostimulation (iTBS vs SHAM) sessions
Targeted neurostimulation effects on reward anticipation and late-stage evaluation
Within the MDD group, the investigators will examine whether neurostimulation of a dmPFC target induces changes in anticipatory event-related potential components (SPN; stimulus-preceding negativity, CNV; contingent negative variation) and late-stage evaluation (LPP; late-positive potential) by comparing component amplitudes after iTBS to amplitudes after sham stimulation.
Time frame: EEG measurements are collected directly after neurostimulation (iTBS vs SHAM) sessions
Plan to share: No
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Ran from Oct 2021 to primary completion in Jun 2025, 44 months.
Of 647 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Depressive Disorder, Major, half reached primary completion within 35 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 19 and three quarters within 55. This study's 44 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 687 studies reached it within 33 months; a quarter within 17 and three quarters within 55.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center