Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jun 16, 2022; 10(17): 5929-5933
Published online Jun 16, 2022. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v10.i17.5929
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for post-traumatic stress disorder: Lights and shadows
Carmen Concerto, Giuseppe Lanza, Francesco Fisicaro, Manuela Pennisi, Alessandro Rodolico, Giulia Torrisi, Rita Bella, Eugenio Aguglia
Carmen Concerto, Alessandro Rodolico, Giulia Torrisi, Eugenio Aguglia, Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Psychiatry Unit, University of Catania, Catania 95124, Italy
Giuseppe Lanza, Department of Surgery and Medical-Surgical Specialties, University of Catania, Catania 95123, Italy
Giuseppe Lanza, Clinical Neurophysiology Research Unit, Oasi Research Institute-IRCCS, Troina 94018, Italy
Francesco Fisicaro, Manuela Pennisi, Department of Biomedical and Biotechnological Sciences, University of Catania, Catania 95123, Italy
Rita Bella, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences and Advanced Technologies “G. F. Ingrassia”, University of Catania, Catania 95123, Italy
Author contributions: Concerto C and Lanza G contributed equally to this work; Concerto C, Lanza G, Fisicaro F, and Rodolico A conceived the study; Pennisi M and Torrisi G performed the literature search; Concerto C and Lanza G wrote the first draft of the manuscript; Bella R and Aguglia E revised the manuscript and supervised the research group; and all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declared no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Giuseppe Lanza, MD, MSc, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Surgery and Medical-Surgical Specialties, University of Catania, Via Santa Sofia, 78, Catania 95123, Italy. giuseppe.lanza1@unict.it
Received: January 2, 2022
Peer-review started: January 2, 2022
First decision: January 23, 2022
Revised: January 27, 2022
Accepted: May 12, 2022
Article in press: May 12, 2022
Published online: June 16, 2022
Processing time: 157 Days and 19.4 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The interesting publication of the basic principle, current applications, and future directions of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for the non-pharmacological treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have been summarized. Therapeutic effects on core PTSD symptoms, such as avoidance, hyperarousal, and intrusions, appear to be larger when high-frequency stimulation over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was used. However, although the technique has demonstrated safety and efficacy, several concerns remain related to the mechanisms of action and protocols to be adopted, including the heterogeneity in the sample selection, stimulation procedures, and outcome measures.