Macro and micro structural preservation of grey matter integrity after 24 weeks of rTMS in Alzheimer’s disease patients: a pilot study
oleh: Lucia Mencarelli, Mario Torso, Ilaria Borghi, Martina Assogna, Valentina Pezzopane, Sonia Bonnì, Francesco Di Lorenzo, Emiliano Santarnecchi, Federico Giove, Alessandro Martorana, Marco Bozzali, Gerard R. Ridgway, Steven A. Chance, Giacomo Koch
| Format: | Article |
|---|---|
| Diterbitkan: | BMC 2024-07-01 |
Deskripsi
Abstract Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is characterized by structural and functional dysfunction involving the Default Mode Network (DMN), for which the Precuneus (PC) is a key node. We proposed a randomized double-blind pilot study to determine neurobiological changes after 24 weeks of PC-rTMS in patients with mild-to-moderate AD. Sixteen patients were randomly assigned to SHAM or PC-rTMS, and received an intensive 2-weeks course with daily rTMS sessions, followed by a maintenance phase in which rTMS has been applied once a week. Before and after the treatment structural and functional MRIs were collected. Our results showed macro- and micro-structural preservation in PC-rTMS compared to SHAM-rTMS group after 24 weeks of treatment, correlated to an increase of functional connectivity (FC) within the PC in the PC-rTMS group. Even if preliminary, these results trigger the possibility of using PC-rTMS to arrest atrophy progression by manipulating distributed network connectivity patterns.