Trial reportAddiction (Abingdon, England)2023
Effects of 10 add-on HF-rTMS treatment sessions on alcohol use and craving among detoxified inpatients with alcohol use disorder: a randomized sham-controlled clinical trial.
Trial report in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Effects of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Alcohol Craving, Efficacy, Emotion, and Cognitive Function in Patients With Alcohol Use Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trial.Brain and behavior · 2026Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of neuromodulation therapies for substance use disorders.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Accelerated Intermittent Theta-Burst Stimulation for the Treatment of Alcohol Use Disorder: A Randomized Sham-Controlled Study With Six-Month Follow-Up.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2026Trial
- Intermittent theta burst to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex promoted decreased alcohol consumption and improved outcomes in those with alcohol use disorder: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Trial
- Effects of 10 add-on HF-rTMS treatment sessions on alcohol use and craving among detoxified inpatients with alcohol use disorder: a randomized sham-controlled clinical trial.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2023Trial
- Major depressive disorder-alcohol use disorder comorbidity: diagnosis, mechanisms and treatment.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Review
- Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for substance use disorders and chronic pain: A review of the evidence and call for increased mechanistic understanding.Current addiction reports · 2025Article
- Article
- Modulation of Alcohol Use Disorder by Brain Stimulation.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2025Review
- A network-based brain stimulation paradigm for alcohol use disorder with co-occurring major depressive disorder: a mini review targeting the ventral attention network.Frontiers in neurologyReview
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsAlcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic disorder with high relapse rates. There are currently few clinical trials of high frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) to reduce alcohol use among AUD patients, and results are mixed. The current study tested the effect of 10 add-on sessions of HF-rTMS over the right dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex (DLPFC) on alcohol use and craving.
designSingle-center, single blind sham-controlled parallel-group RCT (n = 80), with 3 and 6 months follow-up.
settingClinical treatment center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
participantsEighty detoxified and abstinent AUD inpatients in clinical treatment (20 females, average age = 44.35 years).
interventionTen sessions of active or sham HF-rTMS (60 10 Hz trains of 5 sec at 110% motor threshold) over the right DLPFC on 10 consecutive work-days. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcome measure is the number of abstinent days over 6-month follow-up (FU). Secondary outcome measures are craving over 6-month FU (alcohol urge questionnaire and obsessive-compulsive drinking scale), time to first relapse over 6-month FU and grams of alcohol consumed over 6-month FU. Additional outcome measures: full abstinence over 6-month FU and treatment success over 12-month FU.
findingsHF-rTMS did not affect the number of abstinent days over 6 months FU [sham = 124 ± 65.9 days, active = 115 ± 69.8 days, difference: 9 days, 95% confidence interval (CI) = Poisson model: 0.578-3.547]. Moreover, HF-rTMS did not affect craving (AUQ/OCDS) (sham = 15.38/5.28, active = 17.48/4.75, differences = 2.1/-0.53, 95% CI mixed-effects model = -9.14 to 2.07/-1.44 to 2.40).
conclusionsThere was no clear evidence that high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the right dorsolateral pre-frontal cortex treatment has a long-term positive effect on alcohol use or craving as add-on treatment for alcohol use disorder. High treatment response at 6-month follow-up could have limited the possibility to find an effect.
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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.