Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation reduces cigarette consumption in schizophrenia patients.

Introduction: High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) seemed to decrease tobacco consumption and craving in nicotine-dependent people without psychiatric disorder or otherwise healthy people. Even if the prevalence of cigarette smoking in schizophrenia patients is high and estimated to be between 45% and 88%, this technique has not been systematically studied in this indication in schizophrenia yet.

The Aim Of The Study: The aim of this study was to test the ability of high-frequency (10Hz) rTMS over the left DLPFC to decrease cigarette consumption in schizophrenia patients.

A detailed analysis of the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on negative symptoms of schizophrenia: a double-blind trial.

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the effect of rTMS not only on the general severity of negative schizophrenia symptoms, but also particularly on their individual domains, such as affective flattening or blunting, alogia, avolition or apathy, anhedonia, and impaired attention.

Methods: Forty schizophrenic male patients on stable antipsychotic medication with prominent negative symptoms were included in the study. They were divided into two groups: 23 were treated with active and 17 with placebo rTMS.

Role of long-acting injectable second-generation antipsychotics in the treatment of first-episode schizophrenia: a clinical perspective.

Approximately 80% of patients with the first-episode schizophrenia reach symptomatic remission after antipsychotic therapy. However, within two years most of them relapse, mainly due to low levels of insight into the illness and nonadherence to their oral medication. Therefore, although the formal data available is limited, many experts recommend prescribing long-acting injectable second-generation antipsychotics (mostly risperidone or alternatively paliperidone) in the early stages of schizophrenia, particularly in patients who have benefited from the original oral molecule in the past and agree to receive long-term injectable treatment.

Dynamics of neurological soft signs and its relationship to clinical course in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.

The aim of the study was to assess the dynamics of neurological soft signs (NSS) over four years from the clinical onset of schizophrenia, depending on the clinical course of the disease, and to evaluate the relationship of NSS to symptomatic dimensions in patients with first-episode schizophrenia. Sixty-eight patients with first-episode schizophrenia were included in the trial. The clinical status was assessed using Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) at the same time as the neurological examination, at admission to the hospital for first-episode schizophrenia and at a check-up examination four years later.

Does repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation have a positive effect on working memory and neuronal activation in treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia?

Objective: The objective of the study was to find out whether, under the conditions of a double-blind, placebo coil controlled study, high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) over the left prefrontal cortex will show positive effects on working memory with simultaneous assessment of respective changes in neuronal activation.

Results: Stimulation treatment led to a reduction of seriousness of negative schizophrenia symptoms in both comparative groups. However, mutual comparison of real (n=19) and sham (n=11) rTMS, respectively, has shown that the effect of real rTMS was statistically significantly higher compared with placebo stimulation.