AUTHOR=Gurdiel-Álvarez Francisco , Navarro-López Víctor , Varela-Rodríguez Sergio , Juárez-Vela Raúl , Cobos-Rincón Ana , Sánchez-González Juan Luis 

TITLE=Transcranial magnetic stimulation therapy for central post-stroke pain: systematic review and meta-analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=18

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2024.1345128

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2024.1345128

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=<sec id="sec1"><title>Introduction</title><p>Although rare, central post-stroke pain remains one of the most refractory forms of neuropathic pain. It has been reported that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may be effective in these cases of pain.</p></sec><sec id="sec2"><title>Aim</title><p>The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy of rTMS in patients with central post-stroke pain (CPSP).</p></sec><sec id="sec3"><title>Methods</title><p>We included randomized controlled trials or Controlled Trials published until October 3rd, 2022, which studied the effect of rTMS compared to placebo in CPSP. We included studies of adult patients (&gt;18 years) with a clinical diagnosis of stroke, in which the intervention consisted of the application of rTMS to treat CSP.</p></sec><sec id="sec4"><title>Results</title><p>Nine studies were included in the qualitative analysis; 6 studies (4 RCT and 2 non-RCT), with 180 participants, were included in the quantitative analysis. A significant reduction in CPSP was found in favor of rTMS compared with sham, with a large effect size (SMD: −1.45; 95% CI: −1.87; −1.03; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001; I2: 58%).</p></sec><sec id="sec5"><title>Conclusion</title><p>The findings of the present systematic review with meta-analysis suggest that there is low quality evidence for the effectiveness of rTMS in reducing CPSP.</p></sec><sec id="sec6001"><title>Systematic review registration</title><p>Identifier (CRD42022365655).</p></sec>