The Use of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Treatment of Mild Cognitive Impairment Due to Brain Injury

This is an open-label pilot study to test the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on cognitive improvement in individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). 16 patients with trauma-related MCI and 16 patients with non-trauma-related MCI will be recruited. All patients will undergo one week of active rTMS stimulation and one week of sham stimulation, separated by at least one week. Each treatment week will consist of five consecutive daily stimulation sessions. The order of active versus sham treatment sessions will be counterbalanced across subjects within each group (i.e., half of the subjects in each group will receive active stimulation first and half will receive sham first). Cognitive and psychological assessments will be administered before and after each week of rTMS therapy, for both active and sham conditions.

Additional participants (n=32; 16 without TBI) will be recruited who are receiving a full course (30 sessions) of active rTMS treatment (without a sham intervention). These participants will complete the same cognitive testing as the sham-crossover group at three time-points: pre-treatment, mid-treatment (after session 16), and post-treatment (after session 30).