RTMS Improves Working Memory In Patients With Schizophrenia
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may improve working memory in patients with schizophrenia, according to a small study published by Zafiris J. Daskalakis and colleagues in Biological Psychiatry in 2013. Patients with schizophrenia received either 20 Hz rTMS over the left and right prefrontal cortex or a sham treatment, and the rTMS improved working memory on a particular task, the n-back task, wherein patients are asked to recall whether a stimulus they’re currently viewing is the same as the previous one they viewed, or one they viewed several times back. Twenty sessions of rTMS over a period of 4 weeks brought memory back to the levels seen in normal controls.
Editor’s Note: Since many patients with bipolar disorder also have deficits in prefrontal-based memory and performance even when euthymic, it will be important to see if rTMS would also be helpful in these patients. RTMS at 20 Hz increases neuronal activity as measured by PET scan of the prefrontal cortex and other regions of the brain, and this lasts for at least 48 hours after each treatment.
Since many patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder show deficits in prefrontal activity at baseline, the normalization of these alterations could relate to the memory improvement. This proposition could be tested relatively easily.
