STUDY PROTOCOL article
Front. Neurol.
Sec. Neurorehabilitation
This article is part of the Research TopicNew methods in neurorehabilitationView all 26 articles
Effects of of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Upper Extremity Motor Function in Stroke Survivors: Study Protocol of a Randomized Sham-controlled Trial
Provisionally accepted
涛 孙
茜 余*- Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China
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Absrtact Background: Stroke is a group of diseases with neurological deficits caused by cerebrovascular lesions. Despite standard treatment, a large number of patients are left with significant upper extremity motor dysfunction.Therefore, improving upper limb motor function and promoting neurological recovery in stroke patients has become a core challenge in the field of neurorehabilitation. Methods and Analysis: This study will be designed as a randomized, sham controlled clinical trial. Thirty-six patients with upper limb motor dysfunction after stroke will be included, and their Fugl-Meyer Upper Extremity Motor Function Rating Scale (FMA-UE) score will be ≤26 points. Subjects will be randomly assigned to the following three groups (n=12/group): HF-rTMS: Treated with high-frequency (5 Hz) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on the dorsal premotor cortex(PMd) on the contralesional side. Low-frequency group (LF-rTMS): Treated with low-frequency (1 Hz) rTMS on the primary motor cortex (M1) on the contralesional side. Sham control group: The stimulation target and parameter settings will be the same as those of the high-frequency group, but the coil will be placed perpendicular to the scalp plane. The intervention regimen will be rTMS treatment once daily, five times a week for three weeks. Outcome measures: Main outcome measures: Upper limb motor function, assessed by FMA-UE. Secondary outcomes: Barthel Index (BI), National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Exploratory indicators: fMRI data and motor evoked potential (MEP) parameters. All assessment data will be collected before and after the intervention. Communication and Ethics: This study has been reviewed and approved by the Basic and Clinical Research Ethics Committee of Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital (Lun Shen (Yan) No. 353-1 of 2025). The results of this research will be disseminated through the network of professionals and the general public, and peer-reviewed scientific papers will be published and presented at relevant conferences. Registration: This trial has been registered with the Chinese Clinical Trials Registry with registration number ChiCTR2500105502.
Keywords: High-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (HrTMS), dorsolateral premotor cortex (cPMd) on the unaffected side, Stroke, functional magnetic resonance, Sham control, Motor evoked potentials (MEP)
Received: 20 Jul 2025; Accepted: 07 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 孙 and 余. 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: 茜 余, yqswc11@163.com
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