Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may be a promising intervention to treat persistent headache following brain injury, according to findings from a small clinical study published today in the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences.
As Anika Balse, B.S., of the Kaizen Brain Center in La Jolla, California, and colleagues noted, single-pulse TMS is approved for the management of acute migraines. Because headaches and depression frequently co-occur following traumatic brain injury, finding one treatment that can improve both would be beneficial to clinicians and patients.
The researchers first examined data from 21 adults with a history of mild-to-moderate TBI who received rTMS for depressive symptoms but also had posttraumatic headache (PTH). The patients received an accelerated rTMS protocol that included five days of treatment per week for two to eight weeks. The protocol also involved baseline MRI scans to identify the optimal regions to stimulate.
At the end of treatment, average depression scores (as assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9) dropped from 16.1 to 9.7, while headache severity scores (as assessed with the six-item Headache Impact Test) only dropped from 61 to 59—a 3.3% decline. However, 57% of participants did report meaningful improvements in their headache symptoms. The researchers analyzed MRI data from the participants who responded and identified a potential target site in the brain’s attention network.
Balse and colleagues next performed rTMS on seven additional adults with depression and PTH, all of them receiving stimulation in the identified target location. While these adults reported a similar improvement in depression scores (about a six-point decline) as the first cohort, their headache severity scores decreased by an average of 16%. The researchers noted that headache symptoms improved around two to three weeks after depression improved, suggesting the reduced headache severity was just not a byproduct of better mood.
“The PTH target identified in our study is well within the FDA-approved area [for depression], making it a suitable and clinically translational target for patients with comorbid PTH, depression, and anxiety,” the researchers wrote. “A randomized controlled trial with the same protocol for all participants is needed to address whether the novel target is solely responsible for the reduction in [headache] and to address a possible placebo effect.”
For related information, see the Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences article “rTMS/iTBS and Cognitive Rehabilitation for Deficits Associated With TBI and PTSD: A Theoretical Framework and Review.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStock/puszaya)
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