NUH, NUS Medicine Test Personalised TMS in Two Brain Studies
SINGAPORE – November 05, 2026 -- Two of the four patients with severe, treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) who completed a personalised transcranial magnetic stimulation (pTMS) trial at National University Hospital (NUH) and NUS Medicine showed substantial symptom reductions, including one patient whose questionnaire score fell to zero six weeks after treatment.
OCD pilot: one patient's symptoms fell 78% in a week
The completed study is one of the first worldwide to guide intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) with "causal" brain circuits, those in which deep brain stimulation (DBS) is known to relieve OCD symptoms. Four participants enrolled between January and July 2026, and two withdrew before finishing. The other two completed 40 short iTBS sessions over five days.