Mohammad Ghadirvasfi
Iran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Title: Evaluation of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) on depression and craving in patients with methamphetamine dependence
Biography
Biography: Mohammad Ghadirvasfi
Abstract
rTMS, a non-invasive technique for stimulation of neuronal cells, is one of the most promising tools for brain stimulation
and modulation and reversibly affect brain cortical activity and plasticity. Although rTMS has been used to treat a variety of
neuropsychiatric disorders, several lines of evidence suggest that rTMS has a potential efficacy to reduce cue-induced craving
in drug addiction. In this study, we employed real and sham rTMS of the Orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the left dorsolateral
prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to compare and test if it could reduce cue-induced craving for methamphetamine (MA) after
the end of intervention and six month follow up. Thirty eligible MA-addicted patients were recruited to receive 10 sessions
of 20min sham or 10Hz rTMS to the left OFC and DLPFC. Subjects rated their craving at baseline, after exposed to MAassociated
cues and after rTMS sessions. They were followed after six months for the rate of relapse and adherence. Relative
decrease in severity of depression was greater in OFC group, however Kruskal-Walis test showed non-significant differences
among groups (p=0.097). Also, relative changes in psychopathology severity according to the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale,
and relative changes in craving were not statistically different among groups (p=0.350 and p=0.905, respectively) This study
failed to show any efficacy of dorsolateral or orbitofrontal rTMS in comparison with sham rTMS in reducing psychopathology
or craving of the methamphetamine dependent patients.