Patient Stories

The SAINT® Patient Journey

Follow a patient through the SAINT® experience — from the first consultation and fMRI brain scan to the five-day accelerated TMS treatment week at Neuro Wellness TMS Centers of America in Coral Springs, FL.

The SAINT® journey, step by step

Patient experiences shown are individual. Results vary.

1
First call and insurance check
Your journey starts with a phone call to our care team. We listen to your history, answer your questions, and verify your insurance benefits at no cost to you — so you know what SAINT® is likely to cost before you commit to anything.
2
Virtual visit with the physician
You meet Dr. Daniel Pietras, MD, by Zoom. He reviews your depression history, the medications you've tried, and whether SAINT® — an FDA-cleared, fMRI-guided form of TMS — is appropriate for you. This visit is free.
3
Day 1: Brain-mapping MRI
Before any stimulation, you have a resting-state functional MRI (fMRI). Unlike a regular MRI that shows structure, fMRI shows how regions of your brain are communicating. Specialized software uses this map to find your individualized treatment target in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.
4
Finding the personalized target
Your brain's functional connectivity is unique. The fMRI data is processed by the FDA-cleared targeting software to compute the exact spot on your prefrontal cortex where stimulation is most likely to help your depression.
5
Reviewing the brain map with the physician
Dr. Pietras reviews your personalized brain map with you and explains the treatment plan — where stimulation will be delivered, how many sessions, and what to expect each day.
6
Treatment sessions
Each 10-minute session delivers intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) to your personalized target. You sit in a comfortable chair, awake and alert, while the magnetic coil delivers the pulses.
7
Breaks between sessions
Between each of the ten daily sessions there's roughly a 50-minute break. Most people rest, read, or watch TV. You stay at the clinic for the full day but you're not in a hospital — it's an outpatient setting.
8
Days 2 through 5
The same schedule repeats for five consecutive days. The team checks in with you throughout, tracking your mood and any side effects. By Day 5, the full accelerated course of about 90,000 pulses is complete.
9
Follow-up after the week
After Day 5, you return home. We schedule follow-up visits to track your response over the following weeks and coordinate with your local doctor or therapist. If you're traveling from out of state, follow-up can be done by video.

About this video

SAINT® (Stanford Neuromodulation Therapy) is an FDA-cleared, fMRI-guided form of TMS completed over five consecutive days. It is cleared for adults with major depressive disorder who have not improved enough on antidepressant medication in the current episode.

In a small randomized trial, 11 of 14 people receiving active treatment reached remission at the four-week assessment, compared with 2 of 15 receiving sham treatment. Individual results may vary; a five-day treatment course does not guarantee remission in five days.

Sources: Cole et al., American Journal of Psychiatry 2020;177:716-726 and 2022;179(2):132-141. This video is educational and is not medical advice. Talk to a qualified clinician about whether SAINT is appropriate for you. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.