Treatment of bipolar mania with right prefrontal rapid transcranial magnetic stimulation.
BACKGROUND
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has been suggested for the treatment of a variety of CNS disorders including depression and mania.


METHODS
Nine bipolar (I) in-patients diagnosed with mania were treated with right prefrontal rapid TMS in an open and prospective study. Eight of nine patients received TMS as add-on treatment to an insufficient or only partially effective drug therapy.


RESULTS
During the 4 weeks of TMS treatment a sustained reduction of manic symptoms as measured by the Bech-Rafaelsen mania scale (BRMAS) was observed in all patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Due to the open and add-on design of the study, a clear causal relationship between TMS treatment and reduction of manic symptoms cannot be established.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data suggest that right prefrontal rapid TMS is safe and efficacious in the add-on treatment of bipolar mania showing laterality opposed to the proposed effect of rapid TMS in depression.
Michael
Nikolaus
N
Mood Disorders Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Muenster, Albert-Schweitzer-Str. 11, 48129 Muenster, Germany.
Erfurth
Andreas
A
D000328:Adult; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000628:therapy*; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012886:Skull; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016896:Treatment Outcome