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| | | ![]() Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Shows Promise In Epilepsy LONDON, UK -- June 25, 1999 -- Epilepsy can prove difficult to treat, with some patients continuing to have many fits a week despite taking several drugs. In a study in this week’s The Lancet, researchers from Germany have tried a new treatment - repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) - with encouraging results. In nine patients who continued to have frequent seizures despite drug treatment, Dr. Frithjof Tergau and colleagues from the Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, University of Gottingen, in Germany, applied a low frequency from a repetitive magnetic stimulator placed against the head. They found that most patients described an improvement in the number or severity of seizures, although after six-eight weeks the effects of the treatment had worn off. "Low-frequency rTMS may temporarily improve intractable epilepsy", the authors write, although they point out that their work needs confirmation in placebo-controlled studies.
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