transcranial magnetic stimulation

Syllable breakdown

Dictionary meaning

a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that uses rapidly changing magnetic fields generated by a coil held near the scalp to induce electrical currents in underlying cortical neurons, transiently exciting or inhibiting neural activity in the targeted brain region without surgical intervention; TMS can create a virtual lesion — temporarily disrupting function in a region to reveal its causal role — or enhance cortical excitability through repetitive pulse trains (rTMS); clinically, repetitive TMS is approved for treating depression resistant to medication, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and migraines by modulating activity in prefrontal cortex and other targets; in research TMS is used to map the functional organisation of motor, language, and visual cortex, to test connectivity between brain regions using paired-pulse protocols, and to probe timing in cognitive processes with millisecond precision; theta-burst stimulation — a compressed form of rTMS — can induce lasting changes in cortical excitability in seconds rather than minutes, making it practically convenient for clinical and research applications

Examples

• Transcranial magnetic stimulation over left prefrontal cortex reduced depressive symptoms in treatment-resistant patients.
• The researcher used transcranial magnetic stimulation to disrupt parietal activity during a spatial attention task.