Effects of 10Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on verbal and spatial working memories with different loads in stroke patients
Objective:To explore the effects of 10Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation(rTMS)on verbal and spatial working memory with different loads in patients with stroke.Method:Twenty-nine patients with working memory impairments after the left hemisphere stroke were random-ly assigned into the rTMS group(n=14)and control group(n=15).The patients in the rTMS group were treated with 10Hz rTMS while the patients in the control group received sham stimulation.Before and after the intervention,digital/spatial N-back tasks and digit span forward(DSF)and digit span backward(DSB)tests were used to assess work memory.Montreal Cognitive Assessment(MoCA)and the Functional Indepen-dence Measure(FIM)was used to assess cognitive function.Result:There were statistically significant differences before and after the intervention in the scores of DSF,the accuracy rates of 1-back and 2-back tasks of digit and space,the scores of MoCA,attention,memory,executive function,and FIM for the rTMS and control groups,and the scores of DSB in the rTMS group(P＜0.05).Post-intervention differences in DSB,digit 1 and 2-back,spatial 2-back,FIM,MoCA total score,and subtests of memory and executive function were significant between the groups(P＜0.05).The linear mixed-ef-fect analysis showed that improvements in the accuracy rates of digital N-back tasks in the rTMS group were more affected by load compared to the control group(P＜0.05).Controlling for the confounding factors such as age and effects of different content working memory tasks,improvements in the accuracy rates of digital 1-back and 2-back tasks were positively correlated with the improvements in the score on FIM(P＜0.05),and the improvements of the digital 2-back task was positively correlated with the improvement of MoCA scores and executive function(P＜0.05).Conclusions:rTMS can significantly improve verbal and spatial working memory manipulation in stroke pa-tients,with more significant improvement in high cognitive demand working memory(2-back).In addition,the improvement in higher-load verbal working memory brought by rTMS is associated with the improvement in cognition,self-care,and survival ability of patients with stroke.
repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulationworking memorystroke
万方数据
维普
