Neurological and psychiatric disorders are a major public health problem: strokes affect one in 600 people each year, neuropathic pain affects more than 7% of the population, major depression 5-10% ...

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) can be used to treat these conditions by locally modulating neuronal activity with short electromagnetic pulses generated by a stimulator. Painless and non-invasive, TMS can be performed on an outpatient basis.

Many studies are investigating TMS as a new solution for other neurological or psychiatric disorders (fibromyalgia, tinnitus, algodystrophy, Parkinson's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorders, addictions, anxiety, hallucinations, etc.), and new applications of TMS are expected in the coming years.

Pain Management

There is a sufficient body of evidence to accept with level A (definite efficacy) the analgesic effect of high-frequency (HF) rTMS of the primary motor cortex (M1) contralateral to the pain.

Post-stroke rehabilitation

Repetitive TMS has beneficial effects on motor recovery that can be translated to clinically meaningful improvement in disability in patients with post-stroke hemiparesis.

Major depression

Transcranial magnetic stimulation is effective in treating major depression with minimal side effects reported. It offers clinicians a novel alternative for the treatment of this disorder.

 

rTMS in the treatment of neuropathic pain – by par François Balanant