(Agencies)
Updated: 2007-11-22 16:30

This is particular significant given that most of the patients in the study had failed to respond to antidepressants - a criteria which would have excluded them from most drug trials, he said.

Researchers at 23 sites in Canada, the United States and Australian randomly assigned 325 patients suffering from major depressive disorder to nine weeks of magnetic stimulation or a sham treatment.

Neither the patients nor the researchers knew who received the sham treatments and there was a very low drop-out rate, indicating that the treatment was well-tolerated by patients.

Side effects included headaches and scalp discomfort.

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