A new approach to treating Parkinson’s disease

  Current treatments for Parkinson’s disease include medications and deep brain electrical stimulation techniques. Although the efficacy of these methods is remarkable, there are still some problems. For example, although the safety of anti-Parkinsonian drugs is good, the motor complications after long-term medication are still one of the main problems for patients. The deep brain electrical stimulation technique has remarkable efficacy and is a minimally invasive treatment method, but it is not suitable for patients with early Parkinson’s disease and advanced Parkinson’s disease with dementia and psychiatric symptoms, in addition to requiring surgical implantation and relatively high cost.  Recent scientific studies have found that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and direct current brain stimulation (DCS) are promising non-invasive neuromodulation techniques for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, and it has become clear that these treatments are effective for Parkinson’s patients with comorbid depressive symptoms and may also be effective for some motor symptoms.  The main problem with these noninvasive neuromodulation techniques is that their efficacy is not as significant and certain as that of drugs or deep brain electrical stimulation techniques. Therefore, scientific studies and standardized trials are needed to find the ideal neuromodulation targets and treatment parameters to improve the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation techniques rTMS and direct current brain stimulation techniques.