Effects of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Dystonia: An Overview

Abstract

Problem statement: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is a noninvasive procedure whereby a pulsed magnetic field stimulates electrical activity in the brain. Dystonia is characterized by several disabling symptoms for which effective, mechanism-based treatments remain elusive. Approach: Consequently, more advanced non-invasive therapeutic methods were required. A possible method to modulate brain activity and potentially viable for use in clinical practice was rTMS. We focus on the basic foundation of rTMS, the effects of rTMS on neuroplasticity and sensorimotor integration and the experimental advances of rTMS that may become a viable clinical application to treat dystonia. Results: The findings showed that rTMS can improve some symptoms associated with dystonia and might be useful for promoting cortical plasticity in dystonic patients. These changes were transient and it is premature to propose these applications as realistic therapeutic options, even though the rTMS technique has shown itself to be, potentially, a modulator of sensorimotor integration and neuroplasticity. Conclusion/Recommendations: Functional imaging of the region of interest could highlight the capacity of rTMS to bring about plastic changes of the cortical circuitry and hint at future novel clinical interventions. We recommend further studies to clearly determine the role of rTMS in the treatment of these conditions. Finally, we must remember that however exciting the neurobiological mechanisms might be, the clinical usefulness of rTMS will be determined by their ability to provide patients with neurological and psychiatric disorders with safe, long-lasting and substantial improvements in quality of life.

Resting-state fMRI study of brain activation using low-intensity repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in rats

“…Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been shown to have therapeutic potential for a range of psychiatric conditions, including unipolar 1 , 2 and bipolar depression 1 , schizophrenia 3 , obsessive-compulsive disorder 4 and post-traumatic stress disorder 5 as well as neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease 6 , dystonia 7 , tinnitus 8 , epilepsy 9 and stroke 10 . rTMS has also shown promising results in the treatment of pain syndromes such as migraine 11 and chronic pain 12 .…”

Combined rTMS/fMRI Studies: An Overlooked Resource in Animal Models

“…In 2008, an rTMS device developed by Neuronetics was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in the United States for the treatment of patients with major depressive disorder who are resistant to at least one antidepressant drug (O'Reardon et al, 2007 ). rTMS has since been shown to have therapeutic potential for a range of psychiatric disorders, including unipolar (Xia et al, 2008 ; Gaynes et al, 2014 ) and bipolar depression (Xia et al, 2008 ), schizophrenia (Dlabac-de Lange et al, 2010 ), obsessive-compulsive disorder (Jaafari et al, 2012 ), and post-traumatic stress disorder (Clark et al, 2015 ) as well as in neurological conditions such as Parkinson's disease (Arias-Carrión, 2008 ), dystonia (Machado et al, 2011 ), tinnitus (Soleimani et al, 2015 ), epilepsy (Pereira et al, 2016 ), and stroke (Corti et al, 2012 ). rTMS has also shown promising results in the treatment of pain syndromes such as migraine (Lipton and Pearlman, 2010 ) and chronic pain (Galhardoni et al, 2015 ).…”

Comparison of Induced Fields in Virtual Human and Rat Heads by Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

“…Rapidly alternating magnetic fields produced by the coil enter the brain and induce electrical current, which leads to neuronal depolarization. As a noninvasive method to stimulate the brain, TMS has attracted considerable interest as an important tool for studying the functional organization of the human brain as well as a therapeutic tool to treat many psychiatric disorders and neurological conditions, including depression [3], schizophrenia [4], obsessive-compulsive disorder [5], posttraumatic stress disorder [6], Parkinson's disease [7], dystonia [8], tinnitus [9], epilepsy [10], and stroke [11].…”