| Objective: To study the efficacy of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (LF-rTMS) for the language function of post-stroke aphasia (PSA) patients through the systematic reviews. Methods: The randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of rTMS in the treatment of PSA patients were searched through Pubmed, Embase, Cochrane library, CNKI, WanFang, VIP and CBM from inception to November 2020. Two researchers independently screened the literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, and completed the process of extracting data, checking the data and quality evaluation, and finally RevMan 5.3 software was used to perform a Meta analysis and display related results. Results: A total of 7 RCTs were included in this study, including 152 patients with PSA. The experimental group was given speech therapy combined with LF-rTMS, and the control group was subjected to speech therapy combined with LF-rTMS sham stimulation. The analysis results showed that as compared with the control group, after LF-rTMS treatment, the trial group auditory comprehension score ［SMD=0.37, 95%CI (0.07, 0.67), P=0.02］, repetition score ［SMD=0.36, 95% CI (0.09, 0.64), P=0.01］, naming score ［SMD=0.40, 95%CI (0.17, 0.63), P=0.00007］ were significantly improved in the experimental group (P<0.05). Conclusion: Summarizing existing related studies, LF-rTMS therapy has a significant effect on improving the language function of PSA patients, including auditory comprehension, repetition, naming function, etc，but the sample is still not enough. Therefore, a large sample, multi-center, and scientifically standardized high-quality RCT is still needed to further improve the efficacy verification of LF-rTMS in the treatment of PSA patients’ language function. |
