• Clinical Pain
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.1-7
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• 2019

Objective: To investigate the cortical disinhibition in diabetic patients with neuropathic pain and without pain. In addition, we assessed the cortical disinhibition and pain relief after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Method: We recruited diabetic patients with neuropathic pain (n = 15) and without pain (n = 15). We compared the TMS parameters such as motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude, cortical silent period (CSP), intracortical inhibition (ICI %) and intracortical facilitation (ICF %) between two groups. Moreover, we evaluated the changes of pain and TMS parameters after five consecutive high frequency (10 Hz) rTMS sessions in diabetic patients with neuropathic pain. The neuropathic pain intensity (visual analog scale) and TMS parameters were assessed on pre-rTMS, post-rTMS 1day, and post-rTMS 5 day. Results: The comparison of the CSP, ICI % revealed significant differences between two groups (p<0.01). After rTMS sessions, the decrease in pain intensity across the three time points revealed a pattern of significant differences (p<0.01). The change of CSP and ICI % across the three test points revealed a pattern of significant differences (p<0.01). The ICI % revealed immediate increase after first rTMS application and significant increase after five rTMS application (p<0.01) in diabetic patients with neuropathic pain. The MEP amplitude and ICF % did not reveal any significant changes. Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that cortical inhibition was decreased in diabetic patients with neuropathic pain compared with patients without pain. Furthermore, we also identified that five daily rTMS sessions restored the defective intracortical inhibition which related to improvement of neuropathic pain in diabetic patients.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.15 no.12
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• pp.7239-7247
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• 2014

This study repeated low-frequency transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to evaluate the effects on cognitive function in chronic stroke patients. Among the chronic stroke patients, 30 patients selected by MMSE-K and BCRS-K were divided randomly into 3 groups. Group I (n=10) had only sound applied, group II (n=10) were applied 1 Hz rTMS on the damaged side and group III (n=10) were applied to 1 Hz rTMS on the opposite side for total 2 weeks, 20 minutes per a day, five times per a week. To examine the change in cognitive function, CREAD-K scores were measured before, 1 week, 2 weeks, and then 3 months after the intervention. The CREAD-K scores were measured before and 1 week, 2 weeks and 3 months after the interventions. The immediate recall memory showed a significant difference after 2 weeks and 3 months in groups II and III (p<.05), The recognition memory showed a significant difference after 2 weeks and 3 months in group III (p<.05). The delayed recall memory showed significant differences after 3 months in group III than in group I (p<.05). Therefore, the application of low-frequency rTMS has a positive influence on the cognitive rehabilitation of chronic stroke patients.