Prof. Charles Epstein
Department of Neurology, Emory University, Atlanta
IIt's likely that throughout history every new discovery in electromagnetism has been applied to the human body or brain in attempts to cure disease. However, the generation of action potentials by an external magnetic field requires very high dB/dt. Only in the last few decades has it been practical to switch the very large currents needed for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Coupling the magnetic field to human tissues is still remarkably inefficient. This colloquium addresses some of the design considerations for TMS, techniques by which TMS can assay the effects of drugs and disease on the excitability of the nervous system, and current therapeutic applications.
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