CLINICAL TRIAL article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Experimental Therapeutics
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1615318
Efficacy and safety of peripheral magnetic stimulation for the treatment of intractable hiccups after stroke: A prospective, blinded, parallel randomised controlled clinical trial
Provisionally accepted
- 1Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, China
- 2Foresea Life Insurance Shaoguan Hospital, Shaoguan, China
- 3Yuebei People's Hospital, Shaoguan, China
- 4Shaoguan First People's Hospital, Shaoguan, China
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Aims: Preclinical studies indicate that magnetic stimulation may be an efficacious treatment for intractable hiccups in post-stroke patients. This study aimed to investigate repetitive peripheral magnetic stimulation(rPMS) potential efficacy and safety for treating intractable hiccups. Methods: This randomized controlled trial randomly assigned 60 patients with stroke with intractable hiccups to receive rPMS (n = 30) or metoclopramide (n = 30). The control group received a 10 mg metoclopramide injection intramuscularly twice daily, while the experimental group underwent daily repeated magnetic stimulation at 5 Hz with 1,200 stimuli using a round coil transversally positioned below the xiphoid process. Metoclopramide or rPMS was administered until the hiccups were entirely ceased. The efficacy of the two groups was evaluated after one week of treatment. Results: All 60 enrolled male patients completed the study. The proportion of patients achieving complete cure was significantly higher in the magnetic stimulation group than in the metoclopramide group (23/30 vs. 15/30; P = 0.032). However, total response rate (cure + improvement) did not differ significantly between groups (29/30 vs. 28/30; P = 1.000). No significant differences were observed in recurrence rates (P= 0.052). Just one case of fatigue and one case of dizziness were observed in the metoclopramide group. Conclusions: Magnetic stimulation may be superior to metoclopramide in achieving complete cure of intractable hiccups after stroke, though both treatments show high overall response rates. Trial registration: Chinese Clinical Trials Registry ChiCTR2200060435. Registered on June 1, 2022.
Keywords: magnetic stimulation, Intractable hiccups, Stroke, RCT a, rTMS
Received: 25 Apr 2025; Accepted: 01 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Jiang, Sun, Liu, Chen, Jiao, Chen and Liu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Zicai Liu, Shaoguan First People's Hospital, Shaoguan, China
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