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. 2024 Apr;29(2):109-118.
doi: 10.1017/S1092852923006387. Epub 2023 Dec 6.

The Efficacy of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses

Sujita Kumar Kar  1 , Aditya Agrawal  1 , Amílcar Silva-Dos-Santos  2   3   4   5 , Yogesh Gupta  1 , Zhi-De Deng  6   7
Affiliations

The Efficacy of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Treatment of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses

Sujita Kumar Kar et al. CNS Spectr. 2024 Apr.

Abstract

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been increasingly used for treating obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Although several meta-analyses have explored its effectiveness and safety, there is no umbrella review specifically focused on rTMS for OCD. This umbrella review followed Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and analyzed relevant meta-analyses on rTMS for OCD.

Methods: Twenty-three articles were identified from PubMed, and after screening, 12 meta-analyses were included in the review. The studies analyzed in the meta-analyses ranged from 10 to 27, with total participants ranging from 282 to 791. The most commonly studied regions were the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), supplementary motor area (SMA), and orbito-frontal cortex (OFC).

Result: The majority of the meta-analyses consistently supported the effectiveness of rTMS in reducing OCD symptoms when applied to the DLPFC and SMA. Encouraging results were also observed when targeting the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) through deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS). However, there was a high level of heterogeneity in the findings of nine out of 12 meta-analyses.

Conclusion: In conclusion, existing evidence suggests that rTMS targeting the DLPFC and SMA consistently reduces OCD symptoms, but targeting the mPFC and ACC through dTMS shows variable results. However, the high heterogeneity in the study findings indicates a need for further research and standardization in the field.

Keywords: Transcranial magnetic stimulation; efficacy; evidence; meta-analysis; obsessive-compulsive disorder.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interest. The authors declare none.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow diagram showing the selection of the meta-analyses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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