Of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation a lot is being talked about, due to the recent study that reveals its effectiveness in the fight against obesity. But its primary scope is in the field of addictions, which has long afflicted society and on which there continue to be gross errors of interpretation. Whether it is addiction to food, alcohol or smoking, what is fundamentally changing the point of view is the contribution of Luigi Gallimberti, medical toxicologist, former professor at the University of Padua, known for his expertise in the field of treating people with abuse or addiction, both from substances and behavioral.
Always convinced that the various forms of addiction are primarily a neurological disorder, and not a mental one, in 2012 it constituted the Novella Fronda Foundation, with the aim of restoring dignity to pathologically dependent patients, using first the Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in this area and carrying out cutting-edge scientific research, both in the clinical and preventive fields.
An example of this is the study published in 2016 on a sample of 34 people addicted to cocaine, which made it possible to demonstrate how the use of the rTMS medical device resulted in one in the study group of 17 patients statistically significant reduction in cocaine cravings and relapses compared to the control group, treated only pharmacologically.
This study attracted the attention of the scientific community and became the subject of numerous publications in qualified journals. Since that moment, Gallimberti, together with his team, has concentrated all their efforts on research and on the clinic, arriving at treat over 1500 patients and to study the effects of rTMS on the brain over time.
The validity of the initial discovery has been confirmed by several scientific publications, but certainly worthy of note is the one dating back to 2020 which allowed to demonstrate that the treatment persisted over time in the absence of significant side effects.
“Our study involved 284 people with cocaine addiction. After receiving rTMS therapy, up to two years and eight months were followed up and the results clearly showed that the therapy led to long-lasting reductions in cocaine use, “explains Gallimberti:”RTMS can change the abnormal behavior of addicted patients, repairing the damage to the pleasure system in it caused by the use of substances. Not just the craving (i.e. the withdrawal symptoms, ed) is reduced or absent, but our patients also experience the ability to cope stress important without encountering relapses “.
Also thanks to the perseverance of the studies carried out by Novella Fronda, last April, Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) was recognized as the first safe and effective therapy for the treatment of psychostimulant addictions, of which cocaine is an example. For this reason, it received the CE mark from the European regulatory body, destined to mark a historic turning point in the treatment of addictions at national and international level.