rTMS Treatment of Persistent Headache and Post Concussion Symptoms Attributed to Mild Traumatic Injury to the Head

• Headache severity[ Time Frame: Repeated measures: Pre-treatment (0-2 weeks), During Treatment (2-4 weeks), Post-treatment (4-6 weeks), 1 Month (6-8 weeks), 3 Months (10-12 weeks), 6 Months (22-24 weeks) ]
  Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS): a tool to assess severity of pain, which is graded from 0-10 (11 points) with 0 defined as "no pain" and 10 as "worst possible pain".
• Headache frequency[ Time Frame: Repeated measures: Pre-treatment (0-2 weeks), During Treatment (2-4 weeks), Post-treatment (4-6 weeks), 1 Month (6-8 weeks), 3 Months (10-12 weeks), 6 Months (22-24 weeks) ]
  Number of headaches/2 weeks
• Function[ Time Frame: Repeated measures: Pre-treatment (0-2 weeks), During Treatment (2-4 weeks), Post-treatment (4-6 weeks), 1 Month (6-8 weeks), 3 Months (10-12 weeks), 6 Months (22-24 weeks) ]
  Headache Impact Test (HIT-6): a global measure of headache impact. Addresses the 6 categories of headache impact including social, role, and cognitive functioning, vitality, psychological distress, and severity of headache pain. Each question is scored on a 5 point scale: never, rarely, sometimes, very often, and always. Total score can range from 36-78, with higher total score indicating greater impact.
• Depression[ Time Frame: Repeated measures: Pre-treatment (0-2 weeks), During Treatment (2-4 weeks), Post-treatment (4-6 weeks), 1 Month (6-8 weeks), 3 Months (10-12 weeks), 6 Months (22-24 weeks) ]
  Patient Health Questionnaire - 9 (PHQ-9): a 9 item tool used to assess the presence and severity of depressive symptoms. Each item is rated based on the frequency of occurrence in the past two weeks and is graded on a 0-3 scale (0=not at all, 1= several days, 3= nearly every day). Finally, one question rates how difficult problems have made completing tasks at home, doing work, and getting along with people. This is graded on a 4 point scale from not difficult at all to extremely difficult. Total score is calculated out of 27, with a values indicating severity of depression (i.e. 0-4= none to mild, 5-9 = mild, 10-14 = moderate, 15-19 = moderately severe, and 20-27 = very severe).
• Anxiety[ Time Frame: Repeated measures: Pre-treatment (0-2 weeks), During Treatment (2-4 weeks), Post-treatment (4-6 weeks), 1 Month (6-8 weeks), 3 Months (10-12 weeks), 6 Months (22-24 weeks) ]
  Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD-7): a 7-item tool where similar to the PHQ-9, each item is rated on frequency over a 2 week period based on a 0-3 scale (0=not at all, 1= several days, 3= nearly every day). Total score GAD-7 total score ranges from 0 to 21, with scores indicating severity of anxiety (i.e. 0-5= mild, 6-10 = moderate, 11-15 = moderately severe, 16-21 = very severe).
• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder[ Time Frame: Repeated measures: Pre-treatment (0-2 weeks), During Treatment (2-4 weeks), Post-treatment (4-6 weeks), 1 Month (6-8 weeks), 3 Months (10-12 weeks), 6 Months (22-24 weeks) ]
  PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5): is a paper and pencil self-report measure, which rates the severity of PTSD symptoms over the past month. It is composed of 4 subscales, and is a total of 20 items long. Each item corresponds to the 20 criteria for PTSD defined in the DSM-5.
• Cognition[ Time Frame: Repeated measures: Pre-treatment (0-2 weeks), During Treatment (2-4 weeks), Post-treatment (4-6 weeks), 1 Month (6-8 weeks), 3 Months (10-12 weeks), 6 Months (22-24 weeks) ]
  Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA):a paper and pencil global cognitive assessment tool which measures 7 neurocognitive domains including visuospatial/executive function, naming, memory, attention, language, abstraction and orientation. It is composed of 16 items and scored out of 30 points.
• Quality of Life (QoL): QOLIBRI[ Time Frame: Repeated measures: Pre-treatment (0-2 weeks), During Treatment (2-4 weeks), Post-treatment (4-6 weeks), 1 Month (6-8 weeks), 3 Months (10-12 weeks), 6 Months (22-24 weeks) ]
  The QOLIBRI is a health-related quality of life instrument developed specifically for patients who have experienced a traumatic brain injury. It has 6 subscales and a total of 37 items. The tool is divided into two sections. The first addresses satisfaction with health related quality of life, characterized by cognition, self, autonomy in daily life, and social aspects. These are reported on a 1-5 scale with 1 defined as "not at all satisfied" and 5 as "very satisfied". The second section is related to "feeing bothered by" emotions and physical problems. They are again scored from 1-5, however 1 is defined as "very bothered" and 5 as "not bothered at all". The score from all subscales are totaled, and then divided by the number of responses. This gives a mean score, which can range from 1-5. Next, 1 is subtracted from the mean and then multiplied by 25 to produce a score on the 0-100 scale (0=worst possible quality of life, 100= best possible quality of life).
• Post-concussion Symptoms[ Time Frame: Repeated measures: Pre-treatment (0-2 weeks), During Treatment (2-4 weeks), Post-treatment (4-6 weeks), 1 Month (6-8 weeks), 3 Months (10-12 weeks), 6 Months (22-24 weeks) ]
  Rivermead Post-concussion Symptoms Questionnaire (RPQ): an instrument developed to assess the frequency and severity of 16 common post-concussion symptoms. On this paper and pencil tool, patients rate the extent to which their symptoms (compared to their pre-injury levels) have become more problematic over the past 24 hours using a rating scale from 0-4 (0=not experienced, 1=no more of a problem, 2=mild problem, 3=moderate problem, 4=severe problem). A total symptom score is calculated out of 64.
• Post-concussion Symptoms[ Time Frame: Repeated measures: Pre-treatment (0-2 weeks), During Treatment (2-4 weeks), Post-treatment (4-6 weeks), 1 Month (6-8 weeks), 3 Months (10-12 weeks), 6 Months (22-24 weeks) ]
  British Columbia Post-concussion symptom inventory (BC-PSI): a 16 item instrument, where 13 questions are used to assess the frequency and intensity of post-concussion symptoms as defined by ICD-10 criteria over the past two weeks (i.e. headaches, dizziness or light-headedness, nausea, fatigue, phonophobia, sadness, nervousness or tension, temper problems, poor concentration, memory problems, reading difficulty, and sleep disturbance). Severity is rated from 0-5 (6 point scale) where 0 is defined as "not at all" and 5 as "constantly". Intensity is also rated from 0-5, where 0 is defined as "not at all" and 5 as "very severe problem". The two items are then multiplied (frequency x intensity) for each item. This is subsequently converted to item total scores where: 0-1=0, 2-3=1, 4-6=2, 8-12=3, and ≥15=4. Scores from 1-2 signify mild symptoms and ≥3 moderate to severe symptoms, which can be considered clinically significant.

The objective of this study is to investigate the treatment effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in patients with a history of both persistent post-traumatic headache and post-concussion symptoms. In this double-blind, sham-controlled, concealed allocation, randomized clinical trial, 20 patients aged 18-65 yrs will be recruited from the Calgary Brain Injury Program (CBIP) and the Calgary Headache Assessment and Management Program (CHAMP) / Calgary Chronic Pain Centre, Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Patients will engage in a two-week rTMS treatment protocol (10 treatments) and will be followed for 6 months after therapy.

• Device: rTMS - Real Air Film Coil
  70% resting motor threshold amplitude; Frequency 10 Hz; 10 trains of 60 pulses/train (total of 600 pulses); Inter-train interval 45s.
• Device: rTMS - Sham Coil
  A sham coil will be applied to the scalp after the resting motor threshold is determined. Patients will be able to hear the sound and feel the vibration of sham coil, but will not experience any effective stimulation.

• Experimental: rTMS- Real Air Film Coil
  Patient MR brain scans will be loaded and processed using the Brainsight TMS neuronavigation software and stereotaxic data for localization of the TMS stimulation site will be determined through a co-registration method between the TMS coil position and the projected site on the MR brain scan. The DLPFC will be located through MNI coordinates (-48, 20, 34). Electromyography (EMG) electrodes will be attached to the right abductor digiti minimi (ADM) muscle. The resting motor threshold (RMT) is determined as the minimal stimulation intensity required to elicit motor-evoked response of 50 microvolts peak-to-peak amplitude in at least 5 out of 10 consecutive trials of the ADM (contralateral to stimulation).
• Sham Comparator: rTMS- Sham coil
  The same procedure for determining RMT as described above will be employed for the Sham Arm. However, a sham coil will be used when the treatment over the left DLPFC is applied.