Repetitieve transcraniële magnetische stimulatie bij depressie; stimulatie van het brein om de psyche te genezen

- Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive approach to briefly stimulate or inhibit cortical brain areas. A novel approach entails the delivery of repetitive TMS pulses (rTMS) at a fixed frequency.

- In rTMS cortical activity is altered beyond the period of actual stimulation. The changes occur locally as well as at a distance in functionally connected brain areas.

- These features render rTMS a suitable tool to study normal brain functions and the pathophysiology of brain diseases.

- Furthermore, it is expected that rTMS could be used as a novel therapy for neurological or psychiatric diseases characterised by abnormal cortical activation.

- This possibility has been studied mostly in patients suffering from depression, where rTMS has been used to restore normal activity in the hypoactive prefrontal cortex.

- Despite statistically significant therapeutic effects in small sized trials, the clinical implications are still limited.