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Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation: A Case Study

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1. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS): is a non-invasive technique that utilizes electrical impulses to stimulate areas of the cerebral cortex, spinal roots, and cranial and peripheral nerves. TMS can be used to stimulate neurons to promote measurable effects that can be useful in examining the excitability of the cerebral cortex and its associated anatomical connections. TMS may also be useful in accessing the pathophysiology behind the neural activity that take place within several neurological and psychiatric disorders, and it may provide clinicians with a valuable insight to not only diagnose, but treat these various conditions. 2. The motor threshold is the minimal TMS impulse needed to elect a motor evoked potentials (MEPs) within its target muscle via a single impulse stimuli. Motor threshold is believed to indicate the neuronal excitability that takes place within the corticospinal neurons and interneurons that are associated with the neurons of the motor cortex, spinal cord, neuromuscular junction, and target muscle. 3. …show more content…

Motor evoked potentials (MEPs): measures the contralateral activity of the extremity muscles in response to electrical stimulation. MEP is reflective of the activity between the motor cortex, spinal cord, neuromuscular junction, and target muscle, and changes in MEP amplitude reflects a healthy and functioning corticospinal tract, while also reflecting the “excitability of motor cortex and nerve roots and the conduction along the peripheral motor pathway to the muscles” (Kobayashi et al. 4). Changes in MEP latency might suggest a compromised of damaged association of the corticospinal tract, but the “the size and latency of MEPs shows great interindividual and intraindividual variability, leading to a broad range of normal values; therefore, results are qualitative rather than quantitative” (Kobayashi et al.

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