53. Sham repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation with H-coil as symptomatic treatment in functional disorder

Functional disorders-FD account for major disability and impairment. As multidisciplinary approach appears to be the most effective treatment, placebo can effectively relieve symptoms in some cases. Our aim was to assess FD outcome after sham rTMS and to identify response predictors. Sixteen consecutive patients (13 females, age 29.9 ± 11.2 years, disease duration-DD 3.8 years, range 0–26) underwent multiple sessions (5.4 + 4.5) of sham rTMS with H-coil as symptomatic treatment for FD. Global Clinical Impression of Improvement (CGI-I) was collected from the treating physician and correlated with clinical-demographical data using Spearman test. A coexisting neurological disease was diagnosed in 4 patients, while 8 had a psychiatric disorder; 8 patients presented with either sensitive or motor deficits, 7 had hyperkinetic movement disorders and 3 a mixture of both. Twelve patients improved following treatment (CGI-I 2.9 + 1.0) with only 1 patient with psychogenic tremor showing a mild and transitory feeling of postural instability. A greater CGI-I was found for shorter disease duration ( r  − 0.871, p Sham rTMS with H-coil appears to be safe and can improve symptoms in FD.