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Journal of Pediatric Epilepsy 2015; 04(04): 165-173
DOI: 10.1055/s-0035-1559813
Review Article
Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York

Application of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Diagnosis, Treatment, and Functional Mapping in Pediatric Epilepsy

Inga Griskova-Bulanova
1   Department of Neurobiology and Biophysics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
2   Department of Electrophysiological Investigation and Treatment Methods, Republican Vilnius Psychiatric Hospital, Vilnius, Lithuania
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Further Information

Publication History

16 July 2014

20 November 2014

Publication Date:
21 August 2015 (online)

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Abstract

For the past decades, transcranial magnetic stimulation—the method based on the application of magnetic field to the intact brain through the stimulation coil—has been extensively used for investigations of the excitability of the brain. The method is safe and well tolerable in the child population. Existing data suggest three main indications for transcranial magnetic stimulation application in epilepsy as follows: (1) diagnostic measures of cortical excitability; (2) noninvasive functional mapping of epileptogenic zone and cortex prior surgery; and (3) therapeutic modulation of cortical excitability. The abovementioned application areas are reviewed with emphasizing particular aspects in children.

Keywords

TMS - epilepsy diagnostics - epilepsy treatment - functional mapping
 

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