NCT04123496

rTMS to Enhance Cognitive Performance and Promote Resilience

Safety and Efficacy of an Accelerated Protocol of Intermittent Theta Burst Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to Enhance Performance and Promote Resilience in Astronauts: Study 1

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 38 (actual)
• Sponsor: Medical University of South Carolina · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 22 Years – 55 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine the most effective dose of brief, non-invasive brain stimulation (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, rTMS) for improving cognitive functions such as attention and memory as well as to improve the ability to recover from stressful situations (stress resilience).

Detailed description

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) works by rapidly turning a focused magnetic field on-and-off repeatedly over your head, which passes directly through your hair, scalp, and skull and onto your brain, and can temporarily increase brain activity under the magnetic field. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an FDA approved treatment for depression, and is used commonly to treat people for their depression. The rTMS treatment regime used in this study is different from the FDA approved treatment because you will receive up to ten treatments per day over five days instead of the FDA approved rTMS treatment regime of 25 treatments over 25 days. This sort of accelerated or high dose protocol has been shown to be safe and effective in the treatment of depression. We are hoping to find out if this treatment can be used as a treatment for improving cognitive function and stress resilience.

Conditions

• Cognition
• Stress Reaction

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	rTMS	Device: Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) MagVenture MagPro TMS System would be utilized to deliver 3-minute sessions of intermittent theta burst to left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.

Timeline

• Start date: 2019-11-21
• Primary completion: 2021-09-27
• Completion: 2021-10-27
• First posted: 2019-10-11
• Last updated: 2025-10-16
• Results posted: 2025-10-16

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United States

Regulatory

• FDA-regulated device study