ArticleTrials2023
Intermittent theta-burst stimulation combined with physical therapy as an optimal rehabilitation in Parkinson's disease: study protocol for a randomised, double-blind, controlled trial.
Article in Trials, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
8 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intermittent theta-burst stimulation to enhance physical therapy in Parkinson's disease: The STEP-PD randomized trial.Neurotherapeutics : the journal of the American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics · 2026Trial
- Bilateral intermittent theta-burst stimulation as a priming strategy to enhance action observation and imitation training in early parkinson's disease: a proof-of-concept study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2025Trial
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease and Parkinsonian Syndromes: A Narrative Expert Review.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Transcranial Magnetic Intermittent Theta-Burst Stimulation (iTBS) Enhances Physical Performance in Mixed Martial Arts Athletes: A Pilot Study.Brain sciences · 2025Article
- Effects of ball combination training program combined with cTBS intervention on motor disorder in children with autism spectrum disorder.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- CircPRDM5-mediated regulation of miR-433-3p and HDAC6 in Parkinson's disease: a novel neuroprotective axis.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Immediate Neuroplastic Changes in the Cortex After iTBS on the Cerebellum of Stroke Patients: A Preliminary fNIRS Study.Neural plasticity · 2025Article
- Noninvasive Therapies: A Forthcoming Approach to Parkinson's Treatment.CNS & neurological disorders drug targets · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
18 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundFirst-line rehabilitative strategies to improve motor deficits are based on functional training (physical or occupational therapy), which has been demonstrated to facilitate neural reorganisation. Accumulating evidence suggests that non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as repetitive TMS (rTMS), may enhance neuroplasticity, thereby facilitating neural reorganisation and recovery from Parkinson's disease. Evidence also shows that intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) can improve motor function and quality of life in patients by promoting the excitability and neural remodelling of cerebral cortex. We aimed to combine iTBS stimulation with physiotherapy to improve the rehabilitation effect compared to physiotherapy alone in patients with Parkinson's disease.
methodsThis randomised, double-blind clinical trial will enrol 50 Parkinson's disease patients aged 45-70 years with Hoehn and Yahr scale scores of 1-3. Patients are randomly assigned to either the iTBS + physiotherapy or sham-iTBS + physiotherapy group. The trial consists of a 2-week double-blind treatment period and a 24-week follow-up period. iTBS and sham-iTBS will be administered twice daily for 10 days based on physiotherapy. The primary outcome will be the third part of Movement Disorders-Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (MDS-UPDRS III) from the baseline to the first 2 days following completion hospitalised intervention. The secondary outcome will be 39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) at 4 weeks, 12 weeks and 24 weeks after intervention. Tertiary outcomes are clinical evaluations and mechanism study outcomes such as NMSS, 6MWD, 10MT, TUG, BBS, MRI, and EEG, the length of time between the drug needs to be adjusted when symptoms fluctuate. DISCUSSION: The aim of this study is to demonstrate that iTBS can promote overall function and quality of life in Parkinson's disease patients using physiotherapy and that this efficacy may be associated with altered neuroplasticity in exercise-related brain regions. The iTBS combined with physiotherapy training model will be evaluated during a 6-month follow-up period. With significant improvement in quality of life and motor function, iTBS combined with physiotherapy can be considered as a first-line rehabilitation option for Parkinson's disease. The potential of iTBS to enhance neuroplasticity in the brain should have a more positive impact in increasing the generality and efficiency of physiotherapy, improving the quality of life and overall functional status of patients with Parkinson's disease.
trial registrationChinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2200056581. Registered on 8 February 2022.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.