Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Improved Symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders but Not Executive Functions: Results from a Randomized Clinical Trial with Crossover Design and Sham Condition.
OBJECTIVE
Whereas there is growing evidence that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) favorably impacts on symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD), less is known regarding the influence of rTMS on cognitive performance of patients with OCD. Here, we tested the hypothesis that rTMS has a positive impact both on symptom severity and executive functions in such patients.


METHODS
We assessed 10 patients diagnosed with OCD (mean age: 33.5 years) and treated with a standard medication; they were randomly assigned either to a treatment-first or to a sham-first condition. Symptom severity (experts' ratings) and executive functions (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test) were assessed by independent raters unaware of the patients' group assignments at baseline, after 2 and 4 weeks. After 2 weeks, treatment switched to sham condition, and sham condition switched to treatment condition.


RESULTS
Under treatment but not under sham conditions, symptom severity decreased. Performance on the executive function test increased continuously with every new assessment and was unrelated to rTMS treatment.


CONCLUSIONS
Whereas the present study confirmed previous research suggesting that rTMS improved symptoms of OCD, rTMS did not improve executive functions to a greater degree than sham treatment. More research is needed to investigate the effect of rTMS on executive functions in patients with OCD.
Research Center for Behavioral Disorders and Substance Abuse, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan, Iran.
Mehran
M
Shayganfard
Leila
L
Jahangard
Marzieh
M
Nazaribadie
Mohammad
M
Haghighi
Mohammad
M
Ahmadpanah
Dena
D
Sadeghi Bahmani
Hafez
H
Bajoghli
Edith
E
Holsboer-Trachsler
Serge
S
Brand
D000328:Adult; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D056344:Executive Function; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult