Temporary Lesions via Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

[anhinga_anhinga]

The most weird moment at BU neuroconference was when Mark D'Esposito from UC Berkeley casually mentioned that they are using TMS to create reversible temporary lesions in the brains of human subjects (for about 10 min).


Apparently, it's a fairly standard technique (e.g. this review) which is not all that new.

"It is also possible to apply a series of pulses at rates of up to 50 Hz (this is known as repetitive TMS, or rTMS). This procedure is more dangerous and can cause seizures even in healthy subjects; because of this risk, safety and ethical guidelines must be followed [Wassermann EM: Risk and safety of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation: report and suggested guidelines from the International Workshop on the Safety of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, June 5-7, 1996. Electroencephalogr Clin. Neurophysiol 1998, 108:1-16.]"

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_rowan_tree_/]

So they actually have workshop that studies safety of this technique! This leads to more human subjects because now we are not just studying humans using TMS, but we are also studying affects of TMS on humans. Hmm...

[anhinga-anhinga.livejournal.com]

This applies to any safety study...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_rowan_tree_/]

True, most safety studies increase the number of people exposed to the stuff being studied. But a safety study of a study technique somehow smells very recursively :-)

[anhinga-anhinga.livejournal.com]

> most safety studies increase the number of people exposed to the stuff being studied

unless the stuff is found to be unsafe and is restricted as a result...

> smells very recursively :-)

indeed :-) sounds... like something positive :-)

[sniff... sniffs... recursive... smells good...]

smells good...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_rowan_tree_/]

Ummm! Recursion, my favorite!

[spamsink]

It's lesions, not leisons, unless it is liaisons.

[anhinga-anhinga.livejournal.com]

Indeed :-) Thanks...