title: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for treatment of alcohol dependence.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Neuroimaging studies have found that alcohol dependent patients display dopaminergic dysfunction in the ventral striatum, which is associated with alcohol craving. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) was introduced as a promising new treatment option for depression, and among other neurobiological mechanisms, it is able to stimulate the striatal dopaminergic system. The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of high frequency rTMS of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared to sham stimulation on craving and mood in alcohol dependent women. Furthermore, the impact on an attentional blink (AB) paradigm to pictures with neutral, emotional and alcohol-related contents was proofed.
  
  
  METHODS
  Nineteen female detoxified patients were randomized either to a high frequency rTMS (20 Hz) over the left DLPFC (n = 10) or a sham stimulations (n = 9) at 10 days. Alcohol craving was determined with the Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale, depressive symptoms were registered by means of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and Beck' Depression Inventory. For the AB paradigm an age-matched control group was investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were no significantly differences between both groups regarding alcohol craving or mood. In the AB paradigm, real stimulated patients detected alcohol related T2 targets incorrectly in comparison to the sham stimulated and control subjects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although there were no differences in clinical parameters such as craving or mood after real high frequency rTMS compared to sham stimulation, we found an interesting difference between the real and the sham stimulated group and controls in the AB paradigm indicating an increase of the AB effect to alcohol-related pictures after real stimulation. Further studies are needed to replicate these findings and correlate them to clinical and neurophysiological data.
authors: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Centre of Nervous Disease, University of Rostock, Germany. jacqueline.hoeppner@med.uni-rostock.de
authors: Jacqueline
authors: J
authors: Höppner
authors: Thomas
authors: T
authors: Broese
authors: Lutz
authors: L
authors: Wendler
authors: Christoph
authors: C
authors: Berger
authors: Johannes
authors: J
authors: Thome
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology; D000437:Alcoholism / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D054518:Attentional Blink / Q000502:physiology; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000503:physiopathology; D003463:Cues; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
chemical_list: D004298:Dopamine