Practical Guide to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Neurophysiology and Treatment Studies

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a widely used non-invasive brain stimulation technique. It represents an exciting new frontier in neuroscience research and can be used to examine neural processes, providing insights into pathophysiology and treating a variety of neuropsychiatric illnesses.

A Practical Guide to Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Neurophysiology and Treatment Studies presents an overview of the use of TMS as both an investigational tool and as treatment for neurological and psychiatric disorders. The chapters include an overview of the history and basic principles of TMS and repetitive TMS (rTMS), the different types of TMS coils, different stimulation approaches, the use of neuronavigation, and safety considerations. The utility of single and paired TMS techniques to measure cortical inhibition, facilitation, connectivity and reactivity in motor and non-motor brain areas, the different methods of using TMS to induce brain plasticity, and use of TMS in cognitive studies are explored. It also covers TMS and rTMS combined with electroencephalography (EEG) in neurophysiological studies. The authors provide a summary of the clinical applications of TMS in neurological and psychiatric disorders including depression, schizophrenia, stroke, Parkinson disease, and pain.

This up-to-date volume provides a compendious review of the use of TMS and rTMS that will help guide the utility of this methodology in both clinical and research settings. This practical guide will be a useful resource for those new to the field, as well as experienced users, for both research and clinical settings.

Dr. Robert Chen is currently a Professor of Medicine (Neurology) at the University of Toronto, the Catherine Manson Chair in Movement Disorders, Senior Scientist at the Krembil Brain Institute, and Editor-in-Chief of the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences. He received his MA and medical degrees (MBBChir) from the University of Cambridge and an M.Sc. from the University of Toronto. He undertook a Neurology residency at the Western University and fellowship at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. His research interests are human motor physiology, brain plasticity and understanding the pathophysiology and the development of new treatments for movement disorders such as Parkinson's disease and dystonia.

Dr. Daniel M. Blumberger is the Temerty Chair in Therapeutic Brain Intervention at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and a Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He received his MD from the University of Toronto where he also completed psychiatry residency and a fellowship in neurostimulation and geriatric psychiatry. He is involved in training and mentoring on the clinical delivery neurostimulation treatments. His research broadly spans the use of neurostimulation therapies for refractory psychiatric disorders with a focus on clinical intervention trials and understanding the neurophysiology of treatment resistant depression across the lifespan.

Paul Fitzgerald is Professor of Psychiatry at Monash University and Director of the Epworth Centre for Innovation in Mental Health. He is a qualified psychiatrist, with an MBBS degree, Masters of Psychological Medicine, and research PhD from Monash University. He has conducted an extensive range clinical trials of novel brain stimulation and pharmacological interventions to improve treatment options for patients with depression, schizophrenia, obsessive compulsive disorder, PTSD, autism and Alzheimer's disease along with many experimental studies. He has established multiple clinical TMS services and founded several device and clinical service companies, as well as the first TMS training program in the southern hemisphere.