Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex sensitivity to rTMS

This paper presents the preliminary results of a study to determine dorsolateral prefrontal cortex sensitivity to rTMS stimulation presented at clinically accepted amplitudes, frequencies and locations. A specially developed EEG system with 10-20 electrode locations was used to record the short latency magnetically evoked potentials. Sixteen normal subjects were stimulated using 10 Hz for the left hemisphere and 1 Hz for the right. The evoked potentials recorded for left sided stimulation were significantly larger than for the right sided stimulation. Further, the stimulation energies, though within the range used clinically for the treatment of depression were insufficient to excite evoked potentials in several subjects.