Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as a Potential Tool to Reduce Sexual Arousal

NCT04209309 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: 13-101-0117
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 19
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Hyper- and hyposexuality occur frequently in a variety of psychiatric disorders and are difficult to treat. While there is meta-analytic evidence for the significant effect of non-invasive brain stimulation on drug and food craving, no study has investigated the potential of this technique to modulate sexual behavior. The efficacy of a single session of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left or right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) to reduce sexual arousal was tested against a sham stimulation. To test this hypothesis, we employed a randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled crossover study design. Nineteen healthy male participants received high-frequency rTMS over the left DLPFC, high-frequency rTMS over the right DLPFC and sham rTMS (each 10 Hz; 110% resting motor threshold; 60 trains with 50 pulses) in randomized and counterbalanced order with a one-week interval between stimulation sessions to avoid carryover effects. Participants were exposed to neutral and sexual cues before and after each intervention and rated their sexual arousal after each block of cue presentation.

Conditions

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Keywords

sexual arousal

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Change of sexual arousal

  short 10-item version of the Affect and Arousal Scale, which captures perceived genital, autonomic and psychological sexual arousal as well as state sexual desire

  immediately before and after the single session of rTMS

Study Arms (3)

leDLPFC

EXPERIMENTAL

single session rTMS of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for 15 min (60 trains with 50 stimuli; 10 sec intertrain interval; 10 Hz; 110% RMT; 3000 pulses; coil positioning over the 10-20 EEG coordinate position F3)

Device: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

riDLPFC

EXPERIMENTAL

single session rTMS of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for 15 min (60 trains with 50 stimuli; 10 sec intertrain interval; 10 Hz; 110% RMT; 3000 pulses; coil positioning over the 10-20 EEG coordinate position F4)

Device: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

shamDLPFC

SHAM COMPARATOR

single session sham rTMS over the medial prefrontal cortex for 15 min (60 trains with 50 stimuli; 10 sec intertrain interval; 10 Hz; 110% RMT; 3000 pulses; coil positioning over the midline with tilted coil)

Device: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

Interventions

repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation DEVICE

leDLPFC; riDLPFC; shamDLPFC

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years - 50 Years
• Sex: male
• Healthy Volunteers: Yes
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

• motor threshold below 55%
• informed consent
• male
• years
• heterosexual
• right handedness

You may not qualify if:

• contraindication for TMS
• somatic or mental illnesses
• intake of psychoactive drugs
• left handedness
• homo- or bisexual
• paraphilia

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Regensburg: lead

MeSH Terms

Interventions

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Magnetic Field Therapy; Therapeutics

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: SINGLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT
• Purpose: BASIC SCIENCE
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Clinical Professor

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: December 17, 2019
• First Posted: December 24, 2019
• Study Start: October 1, 2014
• Primary Completion: July 1, 2016
• Study Completion: July 1, 2016
• Last Updated: December 24, 2019

Record last verified: 2019-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share