Research carried out by Professor John Rothwell, in the Institute's Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience & Movement Disorders and reported in the Daily Mail reveals the benefits of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in easing the symptoms of tinnitus. "A study has found that all patients given the treatment experienced some improvement; a year afterwards, some patients were still tinnitus-free in one or both ears. Tinnitus is the sensation of a sound in the ear, usually a ringing noise, though it can be a high-pitched whistling or buzzing or hissing. ..."
"Although there have been many treatments over the years, including devices
to mask the noise, distracters, anti-depressants and behaviour therapy, no cure
has been found.
The new treatment, known as repetitive transcranial magnetic
stimulation (rTMS), uses an electromagnet to generate pulses which stimulate
part of the brain. ..."
"In the new study, researchers looked at the long-term response of four
groups of patients - 66 men and women in total - who had a daily session for two
weeks, during which electrodes were placed on the scalp above the
temporoparietal cortex.
Patients then received pulses at three different
frequencies. Patients in the placebo group had rTMS over an area of the brain
not implicated in the auditory system. The researchers from the National
Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, and Assiut University
Hospital in Egypt, found that all three frequencies of rTMS improved
tinnitus..."
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read more >> Daily Mail reference >> One-year follow up of patients with
chronic tinnitus treated with left temporoparietal rTMS |