MeRT’s Effectiveness in Treating ASD Symptoms: Research Studies

Magnetic Resonance Therapy, or MeRT, as a treatment for Autism is based on years of independent, published research studies. Targeted rTMS (repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation) is a key element of our MeRT treatment for autism. Many studies show the effectiveness of rTMS for autism treatment. Some of these studies are listed below.

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A systematic review of transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment for autism spectrum disorder, published May 31, 2024

“A recent review was done, focused on published research studies using TMS to treat ASD between 2018 and 2023. These were systematically reviewed to study characteristics, specific parameters of TMS, localization techniques and stimulus targets, behavioral outcomes, and neuroimage biomarker changes. It was extensive and you can see the full study here:

“After TMS intervention, discernible enhancements across a spectrum of scales are evident in stereotyped behavior, repetitive behavior, and verbal social domains. A comprehensive review of literature spanning the last five years demonstrates the potential of TMS treatment for ASD in ameliorating the clinical core symptoms.

“Recent findings generally indicate that TMS has positive effects on stereotypical behavior, repetitive behavior, verbal and social aspects of ASD, leading to overall improvement across all scale scores post-intervention.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in autism spectrum disorder: Challenges, promise, and roadmap for future research – published February 2016

“Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a promising, emerging tool for the study and potential treatment of ASD. Recent studies suggest that TMS measures provide rapid and noninvasive pathophysiological ASD biomarkers. Furthermore, repetitive TMS (rTMS) may represent a novel treatment strategy for reducing some of the core and associated ASD symptoms.

“While its true potential in ASD has yet to be delineated, TMS represents an innovative research tool and a novel, possibly transformative approach to the treatment of neurodevelopmental disorders.

Assessing and Stabilizing Aberrant Neuroplasticity in Autism Spectrum Disorder: The Potential Role of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, published Sept 9, 2015

“Repetitive TMS affords researchers to design specific stimulation protocols that can modulate neuroplasticity, and such neuroplasticity-based brain stimulation interventions look promising.”

“Existing evidence still indicates that aberrant neuroplasticity could play a critical role in the pathogenesis of ASD. Therefore, it can be postulated that it may be possible to attain optimal social and cognitive performance in ASD by stabilizing aberrant neuroplasticity. In this context, we discussed a novel mechanism-driven approach toward achieving such goal using rTMS. If successful, this information will not only help us better understand the brain mechanisms involved in ASD but also stimulate trials testing mechanism-driven novel brain stimulation treatment paradigms for ASD.”

Treatment Response of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Intellectually Capable Youth and Young Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, published Sept 26, 2022

“The results of our systematic review and meta-analysis data indicate that TMS may offer a promising and safe treatment option for pediatric and young adult patients with IC-ASD.”

Autism spectrum disorders: linking neuropathological findings to treatment with transcranial magnetic stimulation, published April 2015

“Several rTMS trials in ASD have shown marked improvements in motor symptomatology, attention and perceptual binding.

“Conclusion: rTMS is the first therapeutic attempt at ASD aimed at correcting some of its core pathology.”

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Autism Spectrum Disorders: Neuropathological Underpinnings and Clinical Correlations, published June 24, 2020

“TMS is a non-invasive therapeutic intervention capable of modulating evoked and induced gamma oscillations and altering maladaptive behaviors83. Recent reviews of the literature suggest that TMS is safe and effective when used in ASD.”

Non-invasive EEG-EKG Guided Trans-magnetic Stimulation at Natural Resonance Frequency in Children with Autism: Randomized Double-blinded Pilot Study, in Society for Brain Mapping and Therapeutics.

“Following 5 weeks of EEG-EKG guided transmagnetic stimulation, significant changes in symptom severity and EEG measures are reported for 28 children with autism spectrum disorder. … This suggests that EKG-EEG guided TMS may be effective at mitigating averse sensory misperceptions common in ASD.”

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation modulates long-range functional connectivity in autism spectrum disorder, published April 2023

“The findings of this study demonstrate that high-frequency rTMS over the parietal lobe is potentially an effective strategy to improve core symptoms by enhancing long-range connectivity reorganization in ASD.”

Impact of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on the directed connectivity of autism EEG signals: a pilot study, published December 2022

“rTMS provides changes in connectivity and behavior, suggesting its potential use as a viable treatment option for ASD individuals.”

Exploratory Study of rTMS Neuromodulation Effects on Electrocortical Functional Measures of Performance in an Oddball Test and Behavioral Symptoms in Autism, May 28, 2018

“Our results suggest that rTMS, particularly after 18 sessions, facilitates cognitive control, attention and target stimuli recognition by improving discrimination between task-relevant and task-irrelevant illusory figures in an oddball test. The noted improvement in executive functions of behavioral performance monitoring further suggests that TMS has the potential to target core features of ASD.”

Study of the role of the transcranial magnetic stimulation on language progress in autism spectrum disorder, June 2021

“There was a statistically significant clinical improvement in patients receiving active TMS  comparing baseline Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) assessment and after treatment.

“There was significant difference in improvement between the two groups according to eye contact. There was significant improvement in response to examiner. There was significant difference in improvement between the two groups according to active expressive language.

“Conclusion: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over left inferior frontal gyrus may be a safe and effective way of improving language of ASD. The joint application of rTMS and standard language therapy may lead to more rapid improvement in the language progress of children with ASD.”

Effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on children with low-function autism, Nov 2019

“These findings supported our hypothesis by demonstration of positive effects of combined rTMS neurotherapy in active treatment group as compared to the waitlist group, as the rTMS group showed significant improvements in behavioral and functional outcomes as compared to the waitlist group.”

Outcomes from Individual Alpha Frequency Guided Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder – A Retrospective Chart Review. – Uchenna Ezedinma1, Piotr Swierkowski2, Shauna Fjaagesund, 2022.

Conclusion: This study presents evidence on the efficacy and safety of α-rTMS in improving ASD symptoms, quality of life and comorbid sleep troubles in children. However, these findings should be interpreted as preliminary pending the presentation of double-blind, randomised clinical trials.”

The Potential of Magnetic Resonant Therapy in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder,” in Austin Publishing Group, August 2016.

“Given our understanding of the EEG and the consistent abnormalities in the electrophysiology of children with ASD, we would suggest that MRT [MeRT] is an appropriate therapeutic option to further pursue. The existing literature in depression and posttraumatic stress disorder in addition to preliminary studies in children with ASD all support its potential impact as a therapeutic option.”

Predicting the long-term after-effects of rTMS in autism spectrum disorder using temporal variability analysis of scalp EEG, published October 28, 2019

“Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) emerges as a useful therapy for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) clinically.”

“The results showed the hyper-variability in the resting-state networks of ASD patients, while three week rTMS treatment alleviates the hyper fluctuations occurring in the frontal-parietal and frontal-occipital connectivity and further contributes to the ameliorative ASD symptoms. In addition, the changes in variability network properties are closely correlated with clinical scores, which further serve as potential predictors to reliably track the long-term rTMS efficacy for ASD.Significance.The findings consistently demonstrated that the temporal variability of time-varying networks of ASD patients could be modulated by rTMS, and related variability properties also help predict follow-up rTMS efficacy, which provides the potential for formulating individualized treatment strategies for ASD”

Autism is Different for Every Child

These are just a few of the many studies and reports on rTMS for autism treatment, with many more to come. To learn more about our breakthrough autism treatment, please visit our Autism page. And if you have any concerns about your child receiving rTMS as part of their MeRT treatment, read what one parent had to say:

All the technicians at BTC Newport Beach were awesome. They were all very patient with my child, who is very sensitive and has a very low level of concentration, so that he could go through every day’s therapy with no problem. I really felt like every technician truly cared about all the children who were there getting MeRT, and I think this is the most important aspect to consider when getting MeRT, because the staff are the ones that the children interact with every day.” – J.