| Objective: To investigate the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) with high and low frequency on cognitive impairment in patients with traumatic brain injury. Methods: Sixty patients with cognitive impairments after traumatic brain injury were randomly divided into high frequency rTMS group, low frequency rTMS group and control group, 20 cases in each group. All 3 groups received routine treatment. On this basis, high frequency rTMS group, low frequency rTMS group and control group were given high frequency rTMS (10 Hz), low frequency rTMS (1 Hz) and sham stimulation respectively for 4 weeks. Patients were assessed by Montreal cognitive scale (MoCA), Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment (LOTCA) and the latency and amplitude of event related potential P300 before and 4 weeks after treatment. Results: The scores of MoCA, and LOTCA were significantly increased after treatment for 4 weeks in each group (all P<0.05), and significantly higher in high frequency rTMS group, low frequency rTMS group than in control group (all P<0.05). The scores of MoCA and LOTCA were significantly increased in high frequency rTMS group than in low frequency rTMS group (both P<0.05). The latency of P300 was significantly shortened (all P<0.05), and the amplitude was obviously increased (all P<0.05) in three groups after treatment as compared with those before treatment. The latency of P300 was significantly shorter and the amplitude was significantly larger after treatment in the high and low frequency rTMS groups than those in the control group (both P<0.05). The latency of P300 after treatment in high frequency rTMS group was significantly shorter than that in low frequency rTMS group (P<0.05). Conclusion: High frequency rTMS and low frequency rTMS can significantly improve the cognitive functions in patients with traumatic brain injury, and the effect of high frequency stimulation is superior to that of low frequency stimulation. |
