CLINICAL TRIAL article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurorehabilitation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fneur.2025.1650216
This article is part of the Research TopicNew methods in neurorehabilitationView all 17 articles
Comparison of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) and Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (iTBS) Efficacy in Treating Post-Stroke Dysphagia: A Prospective, Single-Blind, Randomized Controlled Study
Provisionally accepted
- 1Yuebei People's Hospital Affiliated to Shantou University School of Medicine, Shaoguan, China
- 2Shaoguan First People's Hospital, Shaoguan, China
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Objective: To compare the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) applied to the motor cortex representation of the mylohyoid muscle in treating post-stroke dysphagia. Methods: Ninety-two patients with post-stroke dysphagia (July 2022–May 2023) were randomized into three groups: rTMS (n=31), iTBS (n=30), and control (n=31). The rTMS and iTBS groups received respective stimulations plus routine rehabilitation; the control group received routine rehabilitation alone. Swallowing function was assessed pre- and post-intervention using the Penetration-Aspiration Scale (PAS) and Dysphagia Disability Index (DD). Results: After 2 weeks, all groups showed significant swallowing improvement (P<0.001). Both rTMS and iTBS groups demonstrated greater improvement in PAS and DD scores versus controls (P<0.001). No significant difference emerged between rTMS and iTBS efficacy (P>0.05). Conclusion: rTMS and iTBS equivalently improve post-stroke dysphagia. iTBS achieves comparable outcomes with shorter treatment duration, supporting its clinical adoption.
Keywords: dysphagia, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, Stroke, intermittent theta burst stimulation, Randomized controlled study
Received: 19 Jun 2025; Accepted: 23 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Cheng, Zhu, Peng 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, 1454262065@qq.com
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