Electromagnetic Therapy for Neurological and Neurodegenerative Diseases: I Peripheral Brain Stimulations

Electrical and magnetic field currents can produce functionally reversible stimulations.This property has been used for diagnostic and therapeutic neurosurgical procedures.The various known electrical and magnetic procedures are separately studied and compared relative to their types, effects, indications, contraindications, adverse events, and benefits.As of 2015, transcranial direct current stimulation (a Class III device) has not been approved for any use in the U.S.However, it is an approved treatment for major depressive disorder in the European Union, Australia, and Mexico.It induces changes in neurohormones, and neurotransmitters implicated in psychiatric disorders.Electroconvulsive (or electroshock) therapy is a psychiatric treatment that induces seizures in patients to provide relief from mental disorders.It is safe and effective for treatment-resistant major depressive disorder and catatonia, and prolonged or severe mania.However, its use remains controversial.Functional electrical stimulation, originally used to develop neuroprostheses, is a short-term intervention to help the central nervous system re-learn how to execute impaired functions, obviating the need for permanent prostheses.Common applications of the vagus nerve and transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation are in epilepsy, migraines and fibromyalgia.Similar to magnetic resonance imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation is applied for diagnostic and therapeutic potential in a wide variety of disease states in neurology and mental health, in the measurement of the activity and function of specific brain circuits in humans, in the measurement of the connection between the primary cortex and to evaluate damage related to past or progressive neurologic insult.It has potential applications to several other neurologic and psychiatric conditions, and to mapping the functional connectivity between the cerebellum and other areas of the brain.Under current investigation, magnetic seizure therapy has a number of purported applications including treatment-resistant depression, schizophrenia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and psychiatry.On the other hand, pulsed electromagnetic field therapy has applications in delayed and non-union fractures, depression, and knee osteoarthritis.A synthesis of all of the above procedures is provided in terms of their indications, contraindications, benefits, and adverse effects [1-10].