The Effects Of Low-Frequency Repetitive Transcrancial Magnetic Stimulation On Aphasia In Stroke Patients:a Meta-Analysis Of Randomized Controlled Trials

Objective:To evaluate the effects of low-frequency repetitive transcrancial magnetic stimulation on aphasia in stroke patients and providing evidence for the auxiliary of aphasia.Methods:CNKI,VIP,Wan Fang Database.the Chinese biomedical literature database (CBM),PubMed,Science Direct and Web of Science were searched to collect the randomized control trials (RCTs) on aphasia in stroke patients according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria.Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software.Results:A total of 4 RCTs involving 137 were inclued.The outcomes of the meta-analysis showed that there were siginificant effects for the result of the global scores(SMD=0.71,95%CI=0.28to1.13)with low heterogeneity(I2=13%).Compared with the control group,the effects of the repetition subtest scores (SMD=0.54,95%CI=0.19 to 0.89) and the naming subtest scores(SMD=0.50,95% CI=0.05 to0.95)of the experimental group without heterogeneity(I2=13%)showed siginificant improvement.The SMD of the scores of comprehension subtest was 0.28 (95%CI=-0.44 to 1.01) with moderate heterogeneity(I2=54%).None of the patients from 4 included articles reported adverse effects from low-frequency rTMS.Conclusion:Low-frequency rTMS has a positive effect on language recovery in patients with aphasia following stroke.Futher well-designed studies with larger populations are required to ascertain the effects of rTMS in aphasia treatment.