Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for the Treatment of Pharmacoresistant Nondelusional Auditory Verbal Hallucinations in Dementia

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are known as a core symptom of schizophrenia, but also occur in a number of other conditions, not least in neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia. In the last decades, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) emerged as a valuable therapeutic approach towar...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Marras, Anna, Pallanti, Stefano
Format: Online
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Publishing Corporation 2013
Online Access:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3808098/
Description
Summary:Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are known as a core symptom of schizophrenia, but also occur in a number of other conditions, not least in neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia. In the last decades, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) emerged as a valuable therapeutic approach towards several neurological and psychiatric diseases, including AVHs. Herein we report a case of a seventy-six-years-old woman with vascular-degenerative brain disease, complaining of threatening AVHs. The patient was treated with a high-frequency temporoparietal (T3P3) rTMS protocol for fifteen days. A considerable reduction of AVHs in frequency and content (no more threatening) was observed. Although further research is needed, this seems an encouraging result.