Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41460489›Full record

ArticleJournal of neurology2025

Neuromodulation in Parkinson's disease with transcranial pulse stimulation: evidence of clinical efficacy and cortical oscillatory changes.

Anna Carolyna Gianlorenco, Lucas Camargo, Huan-Jui Yeh, Elayne Borges Fernandes, Joao Victor Ribeiro, Dilana Hazer-Rau, Rafael Storz, Felipe Fregni

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of neurology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Anna Carolyna Gianlorenco *Spaulding Neuromodulation Center and Center for Clinical Research Learning, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1575 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Lucas Camargo *Spaulding Neuromodulation Center and Center for Clinical Research Learning, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1575 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Huan-Jui YehDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Taipei Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, New Taipei City, Taiwan.
Elayne Borges FernandesSpaulding Neuromodulation Center and Center for Clinical Research Learning, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1575 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Joao Victor RibeiroSpaulding Neuromodulation Center and Center for Clinical Research Learning, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1575 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Dilana Hazer-RauSTORZ MEDICAL AG, Tägerwilen, Switzerland.
Rafael StorzSTORZ MEDICAL AG, Tägerwilen, Switzerland.
Felipe FregniSpaulding Neuromodulation Center and Center for Clinical Research Learning, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 1575 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, MA, USA. fregni.felipe@mgh.harvard.edu.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundParkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder for which current pharmacological treatments, while initially effective, often lead to long-term motor fluctuations and complications. Transcranial pulse stimulation (TPS) is a novel non-invasive neuromodulation technique that uses mechanical stimuli through shockwaves to induce neuroplasticity.

methodsThis open-label, single-arm pilot study enrolled 14 individuals with PD who received 12 TPS sessions over 4 weeks. Stimulation targeted motor and symptom-specific cortical regions. Outcomes were assessed across motor, non-motor domains, and EEG at baseline, after 3, 6, 9, and 12 sessions, and at 1-month follow-up.

resultsTPS produced significant and consistent improvements across different domains. After 12 TPS sessions, UPDRS total scores improved by 9.43 points (p < 0.001, Cohen's d = - 0.566), and UPDRS Part III improved by 4.93 points (p < 0.001, d = - 0.498). Non-motor symptom burden was reduced by 19.14 points (p = 0.014, d = - 0.754). Cognitive performance improved substantially, with a 7.28-point gain on the SCOPA-COG (p < 0.001, d = 1.161). Quality of life improved by 1.30 points on the PDQ-39 SI (p = 0.005, d = - 0.690), and depression symptoms by 3.43 points on the BDI-II (p = 0.008, d = - 0.644). Follow-up analyses demonstrated that all clinical effects were sustained one month after treatment.

conclusionTPS appears to induce clinically meaningful and lasting improvements across multiple domains in PD, accompanied by EEG changes that indicate enhanced neuroplasticity. However, due to the nature of this pilot open-label trial, these results should be interpreted as preliminary, hypothesis-generating findings that require confirmation in adequately sham-controlled randomized clinical trials.

Indexed as

Cerebral CortexParkinson DiseaseTranscranial Direct Current StimulationAgedElectroencephalographyFemaleFollow-Up StudiesHumansMaleMiddle AgedPilot ProjectsTreatment OutcomeBrain stimulationElectroencephalogramParkinson’s diseaseTPSTranscranial pulse stimulation

Identifiers

PMID41460489
PMCPMC12748141

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.