Zapping the brain to fight cigarette cravings in HIV patients

This small, completed pilot study tested whether a non-invasive brain stimulation technique called TMS could help people living with HIV quit smoking. Researchers compared four sessions of real TMS to fake (sham) stimulation to see if it reduced participants' cravings and their automatic attention to smoking-related images. The goal was to gather early evidence on whether this approach could be a useful tool in future smoking cessation programs for this high-risk group.