| Objective: To systematically evaluate the efficacy of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in the treatment of non-fluenct aphasia after stroke. Methods: The PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang data, VIP and CBM databases were searched, and randomized controlled trials (RCT) of rTMS in the treatment of post-stroke aphasia were collected. The search period was from the establishment of the database to June 2020. After screening the literature, a meta-analysis of mergeable studies was performed using RevMan 5.3 software for the studies with an effect size. The rest studies were given the descriptive analysis. Results: Totally, 10 RCTs were included. Six trials used The Western Aphasia Battery-AQ (WAB-AQ) as the result indicator. The results of the meta-analysis showed that after low-frequency rTMS, the WAB-AQ score in the treatment group was higher than that in the control group ［SMD = 1.27, 95% CI (0.71, 1.82), P<0.01］. Two trials used Aphasia Battery of Chinese (ABC) scores as outcome indicators. There was no significant difference between the two groups ［MD = 6.07, 95% CI (-6.92, 19.05), P=0.36］. Conclusion: Low-frequency rTMS can effectively improve the speech function of patients with non-fluenct aphasia after stroke. However, the above conclusions still need to be verified by clinical trials with a larger number of samples or a unified evaluation scale. |
