Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for the treatment of cognitive impairment in frontotemporal dementia: an open-label pilot study

Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is one of the most frequent dementia types in patients under 65 years of age. Currently, no therapy can effectively improve the cognitive deficits associated with FTD. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a noninvasive method of inducing brain plastici...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment 2018-01, Vol.14, p.749-755
Main Authors: Antczak, Jakub, Kowalska, Katarzyna, Klimkowicz-Mrowiec, Aleksandra, Wach, Barbara, Kasprzyk, Katarzyna, Banach, Marta, Rzeźnicka-Brzegowy, Karolina, Kubica, Jadwiga, Słowik, Agnieszka
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alzheimer's disease
Aphasia
Care and treatment
Caregivers
Dementia
Frontotemporal dementia
Gene expression
Health aspects
Magnetic fields
Medical research
Memantine
Mental depression
Montreal Cognitive Assessment
Nervous system diseases
Neurodegenerative diseases
Neurology
Neurophysiology
Original Research
Patients
repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
Semantics
Systematic review
Transcranial magnetic stimulation
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Summary:Frontotemporal dementia (FTD) is one of the most frequent dementia types in patients under 65 years of age. Currently, no therapy can effectively improve the cognitive deficits associated with FTD. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a noninvasive method of inducing brain plasticity with therapeutic potential in neurodegenerative diseases. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of rTMS on cognitive, behavioral, and emotional function in FTD. Nine patients (seven women, four men, mean age 61.7±10.1 years) with the behavioral variant of FTD, one with nonfluent/agrammatic variant primary progressive aphasia, and one with progressive nonfluent aphasia (subtypes of FTD) underwent 10 daily sessions of 10 Hz rTMS over the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Cognitive and behavioral assessments were administered before and after therapy. After rTMS, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment and letter and digit cancellation test scores, as well as reading time and error number in the Stroop test improved. The caregivers' impression of the daily functioning of patients improved in the Frontal Behavioral Inventory scores. These changes were not paralleled by an improvement of mood. The results indicate that rTMS may improve the cognitive performance of patients with FTD and warrant sham-controlled trials.
ISSN:1176-6328
1178-2021
1178-2021
DOI:10.2147/ndt.s153213