Non-invasive treatment for neurological disorders

Non-invasive treatment for neurological disorders

Non-invasive treatment for neurological disorders

The hectic life routine of the vast majority of the population adversely affects the health of many people, especially diseases causing mental and psychological sphere. Although often such discomforts go unnoticed (for many people something normal or that is part of everyday life), can be extremely damaging to live with a negative neurological condition. However, treatment for this type of medical condition always needed to be invasive using drugs. Another option possible?

According to the World Health Organization, 700 million people worldwide suffer from neurological diseases per year, this represents one third of cases of non-communicable diseases. As worrying is the estimate that about one in three of these people do not have medical care, which can lead to dire consequences. However, many people who seek professional help are treatment only through remedies that can not eliminate the problem, with a risk of the drug causing addiction.

Thus, it takes more efficient options to treat neurological diseases and there is a new technique that seems to have gone out of fictional stories, but it is very real: a Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation , or rTMS . This non-invasive neurophysiological procedure allows the induction of a magnetic field in the brain without causing any pain. The magnetic pulses pass through the skull and brain tissue, being focused on specific parts of the body, responses by producing excitation or inhibition thereof.

RTMS was approved in Brazil as medical practice in 2012 by the Federal Council of Medicine and is especially effective for those with high-grade depression and the disease does not respond by treatment with medicines. Furthermore, Transcranial magnetic stimulation can be used for the control of psychiatric disorders such as bipolar and even auditory hallucinations caused by schizophrenia, for example. The treatment is also indicated for addicts with great difficulty drop drug addiction.

The action of rTMS in our brain works the same way as the learning, performing repeatedly given task occurs activation of neurons that "learn" and a new memory is created. Transcranial magnetic stimulation in this memory is induced by applying current in the cortex. Thus, it creates a "code" that can increase or reduce the frequency of neural activity.

Approximately 4 to 5 patients respond positively to rTMS, and beneficial effects often appear after the first week of treatment. The great advantage of this technique over conventional treatments is due to the lack of more than 30% of the population response to antidepressant medication due to a natural resistance of the organism to the drug. Similarly, magnetic stimulation can be used by women with postpartum depression, which thus does not need to use drugs and discontinue breastfeeding.

Treatment is contraindicated for some people, such as who has history with surgeries that required metal components implants (aneurysm clips, ventricular bypass valve and cochlear implants, for example). This method does not cause seizures and can be applied in the doctor's office because rTMS does not require hospitalization or hospital environment. This technique is safe and effective option for neurological treatment with the bonus yet not invasive.