Magstim has announced its latest TMS therapy product, the Horizon Performance, has received a CE mark.

Magstim is the brains behind transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), an innovative and proven therapy which uses a series of repetitive, brief and highly focussed magnetic pulses to stimulate brain cells. The Horizon Performance is its first all in one TMS therapy solution for practitioners, which Magstim says allows greater flexibility for treatment without systemic or adverse cognitive effects.

The Horizon Performance provides the opportunity to treat more people by offering increased cooling capabilities, efficiency and versatility. It reduces treatment time from thirty seven minutes to nineteen minutes with less waiting time between sessions.

Magstim has designed Horizon Performance with a proprietary energy recovery system that ensures consistent dosage throughout a treatment session, which they say distinguishes them from other TMS developers. The Horizon Ez-Arm provides secure and effortless coil positioning, which they say provides a best in class comprehensive TMS System.

In depressed people, electrical activity in certain areas of the brain is reduced. The Horizon TMS therapy uses a focused electromagnetic coil to rapidly pulse a magnetic field to the targeted area of the brain. The small electrical current stimulates the targeted brain cells into activity, increasing brain activity back to a normal level.

TMS, which is already accredited by NICE, is increasingly being used by practitioners in cases where antidepressant medication is proving ineffective and before invasive treatments like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are considered.

Magstim’s Group CEO Lothar Krinke said “Our launch of Horizon Performance reflects our continued momentum and commitment to innovation. We are confident that this best in class system will benefit a broader range of patients and simplify the treatment for clinicians and their staff.”

In 1982, a research team from Sheffield University proved the viability of transcranial magnetic stimulation as a method for testing brain-behaviour relationships. Their work was taken up commercially licensed by Novametrix Medical Systems, which evolved into Magstim in 1990. The team have been pioneering the technology ever since and the company now has two bases of business, in Whitland in Wales and a US headquarters in Minneapolis, to meet global demand for TMS therapy.