Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for the Treatment of Chronic Post-Stroke Pain-a Pilot Study

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Department of Neurology and clinical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, KoreaBackground : Central post-stroke pain is a difficult condition o manage. Electrical motor cortex stimulation has been studied for more than a decade as a treatment modality of chronic refractory neuropathic pain. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation(rTMS) is a safe and non-invasive technology and regarded as a potential treatment modality of mood disorders, epilepsy and movement disorders. However, few studies demonstrated the efficacy of rTMS for chronic neuropathic pain. We performed a pilot study to examine the therapeutic efficacy of rTMS in the treatment of central post-stroke pain. Method s : We studied 15 patients with central post-stroke pain. rTMS with motor threshold intensity of patients was performed for 10 sessions(5 Hz with the duration of 5 seconds). Visual analog scale(VAS) was assessed before and after the application of rTMS to evaluate the treatment response. Results : rTMS showedno improvement in VAS; pre and post-stimulation VAS levels were not changed(mean value 46¡¾15.0 mm) There was no observed side effects of rTMS. Conclusion : In this study, we could not prove the efficacy of rTMS for central post-strokepain, but further studies with different testing parameters are required. Korean Journal of Stroke 2002;4(2):124~127