Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for MS

TMS (transcranial magnetic stimulation) is a therapy that uses magnetic pulses on the brain to create an electrical field in brain tissue. This can help "restructure" some neural pathways and shows promise as a therapy for drug addiction.

In addition, a company from Israel (Brainsway Inc.) has developed a way of using TMS for the possible treatment of multiple sclerosis. There isn't a lot of detail in the press release about this (see the article), but this type of treatment has two potential advantages - it is non-pharmecuetical (no drugs are taken) and it addresses neurological problems in a unique way.

While TMS could never "cure" multiple sclerosis (the "bad" t-cells would still be in the body), this type of therapy could help lessen or even reverse select symptoms of multiple sclerosis. Again, not many details are available, but a couple of other studies seem to support the idea that this kind of therapy could be useful.

Check out these abstracts:

• Improvement of hand dexterity following motor cortex rTMS in multiple sclerosis patients with cerebellar impairment
• Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the motor cortex ameliorates spasticity in multiple sclerosis
• A comprehensive review of the effects of rTMS on motor cortical excitability and inhibition