TITLE
Efficacy of Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation of the Primary Motor Cortex in Reducing Migraine Frequency: A Preliminary Open-Label Study
AUTHORS
Chen PR; Lai KL; Fuh JL; Chen SP; Wang PN; Liao KK; Wang SJ. Institution Chen, Pei-Ru. Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. Lai, Kuan-Lin. Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Neurology, Taipei Municipal Gan-Dau Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. Fuh, Jong-Ling. Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. Chen, Shih-Pin. Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. Wang, Pei-Ning. Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. Liao, Kwong-Kum. Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC. Wang, Shuu-Jiun. Department of Neurology, Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Department of Neurology, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Institute of Brain Science, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.
ELECTRONIC ADDRESS
sjwang@vghtpe.gov.tw.
SOURCE
Journal of the Chinese Medical Association: JCMA. 79(6):304-8, 2016 Jun.
BACKGROUND
Theta burst stimulation is a type of pattern-specific repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation that requires less stimulation time and lower intensity to induce long-lasting effects comparable to those of other repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation protocols. This pilot study investigated whether continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) on the primary motor cortex reduced headache frequency in patients with migraine.
METHODS
Nine patients with migraine were recruited into our study. All patients received 20 cTBS sessions (bursts of 3 50-Hz TMS pulses at 200-ms intervals for 40 seconds), administered every weekday for 4 consecutive weeks. All patients kept headache diaries for 4 weeks before stimulation (baseline; T1), during stimulation (T2), and 4 weeks after stimulation (T3). The primary outcome measures were the changes of total headache and migraine days from baseline (Wilcoxon signed-rank test; T2 and T3 vs. T1).
RESULTS
The number of total headache days was reduced at T2 and T3 compared with T1 [9.4 +/- 6.2 days (p = 0.024) and 8.7 +/- 10.1 days (p = 0.012) vs. 13.4 +/- 10.1 days]. The number of migraine days was also reduced at T2 and T3 compared with T1 [2.9 +/- 2.7 days (p = 0.021) and 1.0 +/- 1.6 days (p = 0.008) vs. 8.6 +/- 8.7 days].
CONCLUSION
Our results indicate that cTBS on the primary motor cortex might reduce the number of total headache and migraine days in patients with migraine. However, large-scale randomized controlled trials are necessary to further validate the findings.
