Treating Non-epileptic Seizures Using Magnetic Brain Stimulation

This study is an open label pilot study that aims to recruit 15 individuals with diagnosed PNES to investigate the feasibility of using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to decreasing the frequency of psychogenic non-epileptic seizure (PNES) episodes. rTMS is a non-invasive method of brain stimulation that uses rapid magnetic pulses applied over the scalp to active neurons in a specified target location of the brain. Electronic as well as paper-and-pencil questionnaires will be used to asses patient's psychiatric symptoms and functional impairment both before and after treatment to monitor symptom-changes.Treatment will consist of daily sessions of high frequency (20 Hz) rTMS applied over the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) of the cerebral cortex. Patients will receive two sessions per day for 15 consecutive weekdays. Each session will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Results of the questionnaires will be analyzed to determine the effect of the treatment on PNES episodes and functional impairment. As a pilot study, this research will be used to evaluate the effect size and the feasibility of a more definitive project in the future. Both patient response and tolerability to rTMS will be analyzed.