Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 6, 2023; 11(28): 6850-6856
Published online Oct 6, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i28.6850
Effectiveness of antidepressant repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in a patient with refractory psychogenic dysphagia: A case report and review of literature
Chang Gok Woo, Ji Hyoun Kim, Jeong Hwan Lee, Hyo Jong Kim
Chang Gok Woo, Department of Pathology, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju 28644, South Korea
Ji Hyoun Kim, Department of Internal Medicine, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju 28644, South Korea
Jeong Hwan Lee, Department of Psychiatry, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju 28644, South Korea
Hyo Jong Kim, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheongju 28644, South Korea
Author contributions: All the authors solely contributed to this paper; Woo CG, Kim JH, and Lee JH drafted the manuscript; Kim HJ is the supervisors of study; and all authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this report and the accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Hyo Jong Kim, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Chungbuk National University Hospital, Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, 776, 1 Sunhwan-ro, Seowon-gu, Cheongju 28644, South Korea. hyojong80@gmail.com
Received: June 13, 2023
Peer-review started: June 13, 2023
First decision: August 24, 2023
Revised: August 28, 2023
Accepted: September 4, 2023
Article in press: September 4, 2023
Published online: October 6, 2023
Processing time: 103 Days and 22.2 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: This case report describes the use of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to improve swallowing in a patient with refractory psychogenic dysphagia. The patient had not responded to conventional swallowing therapy for the past two years. Interviews with her reveal that she appears calm but is very depressed. Therefore, rTMS with antidepressant protocol was deemed appropriate and applied for 10 wk. After the treatment, the patient’s swallowing symptoms improved, and the effect was maintained for 1 mo. This case shows that antidepressant rTMS treatment can be a good alternative for patients with psychogenic dysphagia who do not respond to conventional swallowing therapy.