Exploring adjunctive continuous theta burst stimulation for treatment-resistant auditory hallucinations in schizophrenia: Insights from a case series.

BACKGROUND

Auditory hallucinations affect 60%-80% of schizophrenia patients, often causing distress and functional impairment. Despite antipsychotic treatment, 30% remain resistant. Dysfunctional prefrontal-temporal connectivity has been found to be associated with these symptoms. Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) is a neuromodulation technique that targets the dysfunctional area and is being used for treatment of persistent auditory hallucinations in Schizophrenia with mixed results. Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation (cTBS) is a novel neuromodulation technique that works on the principals of rTMS with similar or more robust clinical efficacy.

CASES: We describe the cases of three patients where cTBS was applied.

CONCLUSION

Significant improvement in auditory hallucinations was noticed in all three patients. While this evidence must be interpreted with caution, future studies on this topic with robust protocol to be conducted.