title: The double-blind sham-controlled study of high-frequency rTMS (20 Hz) for negative symptoms in schizophrenia: negative results.
abstract: The high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) over the prefrontal cortex is a promising method for the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia. Using double-blind sham-controlled parallel design, we evaluated the effect of HF-rTMS over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) on negative symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Sixteen schizophrenia patients with predominantly negative symptoms on stable antipsychotic medication were treated with 20 Hz rTMS (90% of motor threshold, 2000 stimuli per session) over ten days within 2 weeks with six weeks follow-up. The effect was assessed using PANSS, CGI, MADRS and neuropsychological tests. We failed to find any significant effect of active rTMS. Sham rTMS showed a trend for improvement over time on positive and negative subscales of PANSS and MADRS. Between-group comparisons failed to reveal any significant differences on any rating scales except a positive subscale of PANSS after 8 weeks. Results from our study did not confirm that HF-rTMS over the left DLPCF affects the negative symptoms of schizophrenia and alternative rTMS approaches are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric Centre Prague, Charles University, 3rd School of Medicine in Prague, Czech Republic. novak@pcp.lf3.cuni.cz
authors.forename: Tomás
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Novák
authors.forename: Jirí
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Horácek
authors.forename: Pavel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mohr
authors.forename: Miloslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kopecek
authors.forename: Lucie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Skrdlantová
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Klirova
authors.forename: Mabel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rodriguez
authors.forename: Filip
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Spaniel
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Dockery
authors.forename: Cyril
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Höschl
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000628:therapy*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation