Transcranial magnetic stimulation for treatment of neurological disorders

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K19476
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Neurology
• Research Institution: The University of Tokyo
• Principal Investigator: Hamada Masashi 東京大学, 医学部附属病院, 助教 (40708054)
• Research Collaborator: SASAKI Takuya
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 経頭蓋磁気刺激法 / パーキンソン病 / 可塑性

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aim of this project is to assess gait objectively, to identify the reason for variability of the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in healthy volunteers and in patients with Parkinson's disease and to find more robust methods to induce plasticity in these subjects. First, we establish gait analysis system even in quadrepedal gait condition. Second, there are several factors to explain variability of rTMS such as age or baseline variability of cortical excitability. Third, although we had tried several method to induce more robust plasticity, such as changing brain state or stimulating multiple regions, we cannot find better way to induce consistent effects. Finally, we found that tuning the stimulation intensity may be a better way to induce consistent effects of rTMS.

Free Research Field

神経内科