Transcranial Magnetic and Direct Current Stimulation in Children

Mustafa Q Hameed; Sameer C Dhamne; Roman Gersner; Harper L Kaye; Lindsay M Oberman; Alvaro Pascual-Leone; Alexander Rotenberg

doi:10.1007/s11910-017-0719-0

Transcranial Magnetic and Direct Current Stimulation in Children

Curr Neurol Neurosci Rep. 2017 Feb;17(2):11. doi: 10.1007/s11910-017-0719-0.

Authors

Mustafa Q Hameed^{1

2

3}, Sameer C Dhamne^{1

2}, Roman Gersner^{1

2}, Harper L Kaye^{1

2}, Lindsay M Oberman⁴, Alvaro Pascual-Leone^{5

6}, Alexander Rotenberg^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Neuromodulation Program, Division of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology, Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
² F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
³ Department of Neurosurgery, Boston Children's Hospital Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA.
⁴ Neuroplasticity and Autism Spectrum Disorder Program and Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, E.P. Bradley Hospital and Warren Alpert Medical School, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
⁵ Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation and Division for Cognitive Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconness Medical Center Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁶ Institut Guttmann, Universitat Autonoma, Barcelona, Spain.
⁷ Neuromodulation Program, Division of Epilepsy and Clinical Neurophysiology, Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. [email protected].
⁸ F.M. Kirby Neurobiology Center, Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital Harvard Medical School, 300 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA, 02115, USA. [email protected].

Abstract

Promising results in adult neurologic and psychiatric disorders are driving active research into transcranial brain stimulation techniques, particularly transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), in childhood and adolescent syndromes. TMS has realistic utility as an experimental tool tested in a range of pediatric neuropathologies such as perinatal stroke, depression, Tourette syndrome, and autism spectrum disorder (ASD). tDCS has also been tested as a treatment for a number of pediatric neurologic conditions, including ASD, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, epilepsy, and cerebral palsy. Here, we complement recent reviews with an update of published TMS and tDCS results in children, and discuss developmental neuroscience considerations that should inform pediatric transcranial stimulation.

Keywords: Cortical excitability; Cortical inhibition; GABA; TMS; Transcranial stimulation in children; tDCS.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / therapy
Autism Spectrum Disorder / therapy
Brain / growth & development
Brain / physiology
Cerebral Palsy / therapy
Depressive Disorder / therapy
Epilepsy / therapy
Humans
Pediatrics / methods*
Tourette Syndrome / therapy
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation*
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / methods*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding