Craving changes in clinical patients receiving Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) for a major depressive episode

Background: Addiction is a complex, serious issue. Functional brain imaging demonstrates that craving and cues related to substances can activate several neurological regions, including the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a new technology that can stimulate the brain. It has been shown to reduce cravings for cocaine, tobacco, food, and alcohol. The focus of this study is to explore the potential use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) as an effective intervention for these cravings.;Methods: A convenience sample of eight patients receiving TMS over the left DLPFC for the clinical treatment of major depression completed four self-assessment craving scales prior to their first treatment and weekly over the course of their acute treatments. We investigated fluctuations in cocaine, tobacco, food and alcohol cravings as measured by the Cocaine Craving Questionnaire –brief (CCQ-B), the Tobacco Craving Questionnaire Short Form (TCQ-SF), the Food Craving Pattern Scale (FCPS) and the Penn Alcohol Craving Scale (PACS).;Results: Only food and alcohol scales provided measurable data. There was no report of cocaine or tobacco craving in any of these subjects. A repeated measures paired sample t-test indicated no statistical significance in the changes evaluated from the FCPS and PACS scales.;Conclusions: Due to the low sample size, we could not draw any conclusions from the data. We were unable to recruit a large enough sample to determine the effects of TMS on craving.