Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry
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Prog. Neuropsychopharmacol. Biol. Psychiatry · Aug 2017
Randomized Controlled TrialEffects of low frequency rTMS treatment on brain networks for inner speech in patients with schizophrenia and auditory verbal hallucinations.
Efficacy of repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) targeting the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) for the treatment of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) remains under debate. We assessed the influence of a 1Hz rTMS treatment on neural networks involved in a cognitive mechanism proposed to subserve AVH. ⋯ rTMS of the left temporo-parietal region decreased the contribution of the left supramarginal gyrus to the bilateral fronto-temporal network, which may reduce the likelihood of speech intrusions. On the other hand, left rTMS appeared to increase the contribution of functionally connected regions involved in perception, cognitive control and self-referential processing. These findings hint to potential neural mechanisms underlying rTMS for hallucinations but need corroboration in larger samples.