Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association
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J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis · May 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyComparison of the effects of high- and low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on upper limb hemiparesis in the early phase of stroke.
Recently, high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HF-rTMS) and low-frequency rTMS (LF-rTMS) are reported to improve motor function significantly in chronic hemiparetic stroke patients. However, few studies have investigated the safety and efficacy of these rTMS modalities introduced during the early phase of stroke. The purpose of this study was to clarify the rTMS modality that is more beneficial for upper limb hemiparesis in the early phase of stroke using a randomized controlled trial. ⋯ HF-rTMS applied to the lesional hemisphere in the early phase of stroke was more beneficial for motor improvement of the affected upper limb than LF-rTMS.