Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: A review about its efficacy in the treatment of alcohol, tobacco and cocaine addiction

•Few effective medications are today available in Substance Use Disorders (SUD)•Promoting abstinence and reducing relapse are main goals in SUD patients’treatment.•Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) could induce an increased release of dopamine.•TMS could have a consumption-reducing effect in addicted patients. Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is a chronic and relapsing disease characterized by craving, loss of control, tolerance and physical dependence. At present, the combination of pharmacotherapy and psychosocial intervention is the most effective management strategy in preventing relapse to reduce dropout rates and promote abstinence in SUD patients. However, only few effective medications are available. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that modulates the cellular activity of the cerebral cortex through a magnetic pulse applied on selected brain areas. Recently, the efficacy of TMS has been investigated in various categories of SUD patients. The present review analyzes the application of repetitive TMS in patients with alcohol, tobacco, and cocaine use disorder. Although the number of clinical studies is still limited, repetitive TMS yields encouraging results in these patients, suggesting a possible role of TMS in the treatment of SUD.