Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34207847›Full record

ArticleJournal of personalized medicine2021

Heading for Personalized rTMS in Tinnitus: Reliability of Individualized Stimulation Protocols in Behavioral and Electrophysiological Responses.

Stefan Schoisswohl, Berthold Langguth, Tobias Hebel, Mohamed A Abdelnaim, Gregor Volberg, Martin Schecklmann

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of personalized medicine, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 28% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Stefan SchoisswohlDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-3633-999X
Berthold LangguthDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
Tobias HebelDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-9586-3340
Mohamed A AbdelnaimDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-8766-674X
Gregor VolbergInstitute of Psychology, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
Martin SchecklmannDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Regensburg, 93053 Regensburg, Germany.
University of Regensburg · DE

Funding

European Union's Horizon 2020 Framework Programme 848261European Union's Horizon 2020 Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions 722046
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundRepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation tool potentially modulating pathological brain activity. Its clinical effectiveness is hampered by varying results and characterized by inter-individual variability in treatment responses. RTMS individualization might constitute a useful strategy to overcome this variability. A precondition for this approach would be that repeatedly applied protocols result in reliable effects. The condition tinnitus provides the advantage of immediate behavioral consequences (tinnitus loudness changes) after interventions and thus offers an excellent model to exemplify TMS personalization.

objectiveThe aim was to investigate the test-retest reliability of short rTMS stimulations in modifying tinnitus loudness and oscillatory brain activity as well as to examine the feasibility of rTMS individualization in tinnitus.

methodsThree short verum (1, 10, 20 Hz; 200 pulses) and one sham (0.1 Hz; 20 pulses) rTMS protocol were administered on two different days in 22 tinnitus patients. Before and after each protocol, oscillatory brain activity was recorded with electroencephalography (EEG), together with behavioral tinnitus loudness ratings. RTMS individualization was executed on the basis of behavioral and electrophysiological responses. Stimulation responders were identified via consistent sham-superior increases in tinnitus loudness (behavioral responders) and alpha power increases or gamma power decreases (alpha responders/gamma responders) in accordance with the prevalent neurophysiological models for tinnitus.

resultsIt was feasible to identify individualized rTMS protocols featuring reliable tinnitus loudness changes (55% behavioral responder), alpha increases (91% alpha responder) and gamma decreases (100% gamma responder), respectively. Alpha responses primary occurred over parieto-occipital areas, whereas gamma responses mainly appeared over frontal regions. On the contrary, test-retest correlation analyses per protocol at a group level were not significant neither for behavioral nor for electrophysiological effects. No associations between behavioral and EEG responses were found.

conclusionRTMS individualization via behavioral and electrophysiological data in tinnitus can be considered as a feasible approach to overcome low reliability at the group level. The present results open the discussion favoring personalization utilizing neurophysiological markers rather than behavioral responses. These insights are not only useful for the rTMS treatment of tinnitus but also for neuromodulation interventions in other pathologies, as our results suggest that the individualization of stimulation protocols is feasible despite absent group-level reliability.

Indexed as

electroencephalographyneuro-navigationreliabilityrepetitive transcranial magnetic stimulationrTMS personalizationtinnitus

Identifiers

PMID34207847
PMCPMC8226921
OpenAlexW3168343876

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.