BoostCPM Clinical Trial
Full Reference: Hodkinson DJ, Drabek MM, Horvath S, Pszczolkowski S, Tench C, Tanasescu R, Lankappa ST, Walsh DA, et al. (2025), Accelerated intermittent theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for chronic knee osteoarthritis pain. Clin Neurophysiol.
Work accepted for publication in journal of Clinical Neurophysiology. https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/clinical-neurophysiology
Neuromodulation is a rapidly expanding area of medicine to treat pain. Non-invasive brain stimulation technologies, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), offer promising alternatives to drug therapy for managing chronic pain. The BoostCPM study was the first randomized, sham (placebo)-controlled clinical trial assessing an accelerated TMS protocol. The aim was to reduce treatment length and provide faster pain relief with more convenience compared to conventional TMS therapy. A total of 45 patients with mild to moderately severe chronic knee osteoarthritis (OA) pain were recruited in primary care setting. Participants were randomised to receive active or sham (placebo) procedures for 4 consecutive days at a daily dose of 9000 TMS pulses (including 5 sessions of 1800 TMS pulses). The accelerated schedule of TMS was a safe, well tolerated, feasible, and acceptable intervention in chronic OA patients. Pain relief was observed immediately after treatment and lasted for 16 weeks with meaningful reduction of pain. While no additional improvements were observed in the active group compared to control, this pilot work supports larger clinical studies of accelerated TMS for managing long-term chronic OA pain.