East Meets West: A New Direction for Aging Brains

New research combining Traditional Chinese Medicine with cutting-edge deep transcranial stimulation unlocks a powerful new synergy

By Jess Wight | June 30, 2026

“People need to change their attitudes about brain aging… It's not just a downhill course."

Dr. Fotuhi, a professor at Johns Hopkins and a dementia expert discussing public opinions on cognitive decline

As we age, it is normal to experience a natural decline in cognition. Many adults slowly notice that they can’t keep up with new technology, or they find themselves forgetting shopping lists or occasionally missing appointments. While most signs of aging can be frustrating, they are generally not concerning; aging is a natural process to be embraced, not feared.

However, others experience more troublesome signs – they begin struggling with everyday tasks or find conversations more difficult to follow and contribute to. Many worry they are experiencing the early signs of dementia, a deeply frightening position to find oneself in.

In the late 1980s, scientists coined the term mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to describe the intermediate stage between the normal aging and clinical dementia. They used the Global Deterioration Scale whereby patients experiencing MCI fulfilled stage 3 criteria, though this was updated in 1999 following an observational study. Despite this development, MCI remained a grey area lacking clinical definition until the publication of international criteria in 2003 identifying MCI as a clinical syndrome with a broad spectrum of symptoms. Ten years later, MCI was finally recognized by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fifth edition (DSM-5) as ‘mild neurocognitive disorder’ – relating to the recharacterized term for dementia: Major neurocognitive disorder.

Currently, an estimated 10-20% of adults over the age of 65 fit the criteria for MCI. While 3-13% of these patients progress to dementia each year, it is important to note that progression is not inevitable.

The Finnish Geriatric Intervention Study to Prevent Cognitive Impairment and Disability (FINGER) published findings in 2015 supporting healthy lifestyle interventions which demonstrated a 25% improvement in cognitive performance in patients with MCI. However, beyond monitoring, counselling, and regular exercise, the DSM-5 lacks specific management guidelines for MCI as there are no therapeutic or pharmacological treatments with proven efficacy for the condition at present.

Past clinical limitations are finally giving way to promising new research. A newly published randomized controlled trial offers fresh hope, showing significant improvements in cognitive function for patients with MCI.

Researchers achieved this by harnessing an unconventional pairing: the ancient healing practices of acupuncture combined with the advanced, modern precision of brain mapping and magnetic stimulation. Specifically, the study evaluated a novel. personalized treatment approach combining acupuncture with deep transcranial magnetic stimulation (dTMS).  

Participants were divided into three groups to isolate what worked best:

1. Combined personalized acupuncture and accelerated dTMS

2. Accelerated dTMS with "sham" (placebo) acupuncture

3. A pure placebo group (sham dTMS + sham acupuncture)

The cohort was then assessed across five core cognitive domains: Memory, Executive function, Global cognitive function, Daily function, and Attention.

This structure allowed researchers to compare the combined treatment with the accelerated dTMS alone and with the sham-control group and found surprising results: combining the two very different treatment modalities delivered significant improvement for participants in several of the measures, particularly memory and executive function. As two of the most commonly reported factors of cognition impacted by MCI, these results provide promising early evidence which, with further research, could offer a much-needed rapid treatment option for individuals struggling with MCI.

To maximize the therapeutic benefits, researchers individualized the acupuncture treatment for each patient. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), MCI can root from inadequate nourishment of the brain, blockages disrupting energy and blood flow, or weakness in the body's systems that support mental function.

Because these underlying imbalances vary widely from person to person, researchers tailored the acupuncture points to match each patient's specific TCM diagnosis. To merge this ancient philosophy with modern technology, they used fMRI brain scans and a Brainsight neuro-navigation system to map out exact, individualized scalp locations.

Combining TCM syndrome differentiation with fMRI-guided acupoint localization allowed researchers to deliver a highly personalized course of acupuncture to optimize cognitive improvement. This rigorous approach aligns with modern clinical standards such as the guidelines developed by the Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture (STRICTA), ensuring the study reflects how high-level, real-world acupuncture is practiced.

"Neuroimaging has shown great promise in opening a window into brain function to better appreciate the mechanisms supporting acupuncture."

Vitaly Napadow, PhD, a Harvard Medical School professor and internationally recognized researcher in acupuncture and brain imaging discussing the use of fMRI in acupuncture treatment

The dTMS treatment adopted accelerated protocol using the Stanford Accelerated Intelligent Neuromodulation Therapy (SAINT) method. Similarly to the personalized acupuncture, accelerated deep TMS utilizes next-generation, state-of-the-art technology to optimize treatment. Having just received FDA clearance for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) in late 2025, accelerated dTMS compresses the traditional six-week acute treatment phase to just six consecutive, intensive days.

According to data from BrainsWay, clinical studies supporting the FDA clearance found accelerated treatment produced response rates comparable to conventional treatment protocol for MDD. Although only currently cleared for MDD, accelerated dTMS shows immense promise for other conditions where dTMS is already approved by the FDA such as OCD and anxious depression. With further clinical trials, researchers anticipate adapting this rapid protocol to treat all FDA-approved conditions in the near future.

The current MCI study supports the potential expansion of accelerated dTMS treatment, as patients experienced cognitive improvement following just ten consecutive, intensive days of dTMS therapy.

Though the dTMS treatments provided cognitive improvement individually, the combination of dTMS with acupuncture demonstrated significantly greater improvements. Enhancement in scores across all measures of cognition were “substantially larger” in the combined group according to researchers.

What makes these findings particularly robust is that the cognitive improvements were backed up by hard data. Researchers didn't just rely on memory tests; they tracked objective biological changes, including serum biomarkers, MRI findings, and electroencephalography.

These concrete neurophysiological measures, combined with the rigorous, randomized double-blind design, mean we can confidently attribute the positive outcomes to the treatments themselves, rather than placebo effects or baseline differences between patients.

Of course, as is the first clinical trial investigating such treatment options for MCI, further research is required. Future studies with larger and more diverse populations are needed to determine whether the observed cognitive improvements are sustained over time, and to untangle exactly how much weight each individual therapy carries. However, these results represent a very promising early step in exploring combined neuromodulation and personalized acupuncture approaches for MCI.

Whilst novel for MCI, this multimodal approach of pairing acupuncture with TMS has already been paving the way for emerging advancements in other areas of brain health. A scoping review of augmentation strategies for TMS from March this year highlighted acupuncture as a complementary adjunct to enhance the effectiveness of treatment.

This data was based on studies addressing different forms of depression, while other researchers have found similar positive results when treating stroke patients: authors of a meta-analysis exploring the efficacy of acupuncture combined with other therapies stated that “the combination of acupuncture and rTMS emerges as a potentially superior treatment option”. This again demonstrates further potential for a shift towards a new frontier in neuromodulation. Eastern and western therapies don’t just coexist; they actively amplify one another’s healing potential.

Integrating traditional Chinese medicine with modern neuroscience and technology appears to enhance treatment outcomes. Because MCI is a condition currently managed rather than cured, this promising research has the potential to fundamentally reshape future clinical care, opening the door to holistic, rapid-acting strategies to improve the quality of life for individuals with neurocognitive disorders.

It also raises important questions: if this combination of personalized acupuncture and dTMS can improve outcomes for individuals with MCI, could it offer similar benefits for people with dementia? Could this integrative approach also prove effective for other neurological or mental health conditions currently treated with acupuncture or dTMS alone? While further research is needed, these findings highlight the potential of combining traditional and modern therapies, paving the way for more comprehensive treatment and management strategies for millions of people living with cognitive decline and mental illness.