Effect Of Low-Frequency RTMS On Aphasia In Stroke Patients:a Meta-Analysis Of Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective:To systematically review the efficacy and safety of low repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) for Aphasia in Stroke Patients. Methods:We searched Chinese BioMedical Literature Database, Wanfang database,Chinese scientific journals full-text database,China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI),PubMed, MEDLINE, EMbase, Cochrane Library for clinical studies about repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of aphasia after cerebral infarction. The deadline for December 2014. Two independent reviewers selected the literatures by the inclusion and exclusion criteria, data extraction and cross-checking, and then conducted the analysis. Results:A total of 11 studies(322 cases,169 of them in a rTMS group and 153 in a control group) were included. Eleven randomized controlled trials were used for Meta-analysison. (1) Meta-analysis showed that the improvement of aphagja function score after rTMS was better than that of the control group (SMD=0.54,95% CI:0.27～0.81, P <0.0001.). (2) In terms of adverse reactions, eleven trials did not report any adverse events, such as headache, tinnitus or epilepsy,etc. Conclusion:The low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation can significantly improve speech impairment after cerebral infarction, and it is both safe and effective,is a way worthy of further study.