Which patients are good candidates for transcranial electrical stimulation for the treatment of chronic insomnia?
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a noninvasive neuromodulation technique that has demonstrated efficacy in the treatment of insomnia in randomized clinical trials, although evidence supporting its long-term effectiveness remains limited. Studies have reported improvements in both subjectiv...
There are a couple of studies conducted by manufacturers of these devices showing modest benefit but most independent, well-conducted trials do not show any benefit (Lee et al., PMID 40239389).
There aren't enough available data to be sure who will respond better than another. This is partly because there are various ways of delivering transcranial electrical stimulation (tDCS, tACS) and targets ( e.g., prefrontal cortex, vestibular nerve). However, I consider that clinically, when a pati...