Personalised Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

TMS needs to be delivered with accuracy and reliability

To ensure that brain activity normalises, TMS needs to be given multiple times every day for several weeks. Standard treatments require between 20 and 40 TMS sessions in total. The aim of each treatment session is to train the brain regions to communicate normally. This requires accurate and reliable stimulation.1

‘Standard’ TMS has some limitations

‘Standard’ TMS refers to the traditional practice of delivering TMS to a brain region based on surface landmarks on the scalp. This is the most common practice of TMS.

Using surface landmarks on the scalp to localise the DLPFC may be inaccurate and unreliable

At best, this approach roughly estimates the location of the brain region to stimulate. Of course, everyone has a unique brain size and shape, and this one-size-fits-all approach may not be optimal for all people. The DLPFC is a large brain region, and targeting it using surface markers on the scalp may be inaccurate and unreliable.

For example, research shows that in ‘standard’ TMS, different sites within the DLPFC are stimulated across sessions, and at times the wrong brain region is stimulated. 2, 3

References
  1. Fitzgerald, Paul B., et al. “A randomized trial of rTMS targeted with MRI based neuro-navigation in treatment-resistant depression.” Neuropsychopharmacology 34.5 (2009): 1255-1262. 
  2. Herwig, Uwe, et al. “Transcranial magnetic stimulation in therapy studies: examination of the reliability of “standard” coil positioning by neuronavigation.” Biological psychiatry 50.1 (2001): 58-61. 
  3. Opitz, Alexander, et al. “An integrated framework for targeting functional networks via transcranial magnetic stimulation.” Neuroimage 127 (2016): 86-96. 

Personalised TMS at Queensland Neurostimulation Centre improves accuracy and reliability

Personalised TMS accounts for an individual’s brain variability through the use of an MRI brain scan.

Analysis of an MRI brain scan characterises individual brain variability.

Each session TMS is delivered to exactly the same site within the DLPFC on a millimetre scale. TMS effect is enhanced by ensuring that treatment is repeatable.

This is an example of personalised therapy in mental health; accounting for individual variability with a high level of exactness in measurement.

In ‘standard’ TMS for treatment resistant depression, accuracy and reliability is lower

  • Uses surface markers on the scalp of the head to target the DLPFC
  • Does not account for individual variability in the person’s brain
  • More likely to treat different sites within the DLPFC, or may miss the DLPFC across sessions
  • Operator error is more probable

In personalised TMS for treatment resistant depression, accuracy and reliability improves

  • TMS robot accounts for head movement
  • Accurate and reliable targeting of DLPFC site through use of MRI
  • The individual’s brain variability is accounted for
  • Accurate and reliable across all sessions
  • TMS robot reduces possibility of operator error

This personalised approach is what sets Queensland Neurostimulation Centre apart nationally and internationally as TMS providers.

Queensland Neurostimulation Centre
Menu
Menu

Follow us:

Twitter Linkedin
Queensland Neurostimulation Centre as trading for Australia Brain Foundation affiliated with Neurosciences Queensland.

All marketing related to ‘personalisation’, ‘accuracy’ and ‘reliability’ in these materials are based on the following ARTG listed devices: Localite TMS Navigator – Stereotactic neuronavigation/planning system – ARTG ID: 371108 Axilum Cobot for TMS – Transcranial magnetic stimulation system, mobile – ARTG ID: 370969 © 2023 Queensland Neurostimulation Centre as trading for Australia Brain Foundation. All rights reserved.