Short term effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in patients with catastrophic intractable tinnitus: preliminary report

The short-term effects of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in the patients with catastrophic and intractable tinnitus were investigated. Fifteen participants were recruited among patients with catastrophic intractable tinnitus to receive 1 Hz rTMS treatment. Tinnitus severity was assessed before rTMS and directly after sham or real rTMS using the tinnitus handicap inventory (THI) and visual analog scale (VAS). There was no statistical difference in the THI score before and after sham stimulation. However, after 5 replications of real rTMS there was statistically significant reduction in THI score. Eight patients showed a decrease of more than 10 in THI score. Patients who showed a vast change in THI score after rTMS also showed a large decrease in their VAS score (r=0.879, P