Transcraneal Magnetic Stimulation Improves Sleep Parameters in Patients Affected with Imsomnia Associated to Electroencephalographic Abnormalities

Abstract

Insomnia is one of the most frequently observed sleep disorders, affecting nearly 10% of the general population. It has multiple etiological factors. Recently, it has been reported that EEG abnormalities are associated with insomnia in patients previously diagnosed as idiopathic insomniacs. In addition, transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has shown to be effective in the treatment of disorders characterized by neural hyper-excitability. Method: In the present study, patients with insomnia and EEG abnormalities were submitted to slow repetitive trans-cranial magnetic stimulation, for 15 minutes daily during 10 days. Polysomnographic recordings were performed before and after TMS. Results: The results indicate that the presence of EEG abnormalities significantly decreased after TMS. In addition, most of the sleep parameters showed significant improvement. Conclusions: These data support the notion that TMS is a reliable therapeutic tool for patients affected with abnormalities linked to neuronal hyper-excitability.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation therapeutic applications on sleep and insomnia: a review

“…In combination with PSG and questionnaires, two studies used electroencephalogram (EEG) to examine abnormalities present in patients suffering from chronic insomnia (Sánchez-Escandón et al 2014;Song et al 2019). EEG recordings were done before and after rTMS sessions for comparison.…”

“…EEG recordings were done before and after rTMS sessions for comparison. In one study the frequency of EEG abnormalities decreased after rTMS treatment while PSG parameters of sleep efficiency and total sleep time improved significantly (Sánchez-Escandón et al 2014). In the other study, EEG recordings of insomnia patients showed over-active or under-active brain regions as compared to healthy controls (Song et al 2019).…”

rTMS targeted to the secondary somatosensory cortex influences sleep in CRPS patients, as measured with the OURA ring

“…Importantly, studies assessing the efficacy of rTMS on sleep with objective measurements, for example, PSG, are scarce. In patients with insomnia, rTMS targeted to the frontal cortex resulted in improvements of PSG parameters TST, SE, SOL, and WASO (Sánchez‐Escandón et al., 2014 ), and rTMS targeted to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex improved sleep architecture (Jiang et al., 2013 ).…”