Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39816903›Full record

ReviewPain reports2025

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for fibromyalgia: are we there yet?

Jorge Dornellys da Silva Lapa, Valquíria Aparecida da Silva, Daniel Ciampi de Andrade

Registry-linked trialAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Pain reports, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT07642882 (Analgesic Efficacy of Multisite rTMS in Depressed and Nondepressed Patients With Fibromyalgia and Prediction of the Response), which is not on this map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

NCT07642882 narecruitingnot on this mapstarted 2026, after this paper: background citation

Analgesic Efficacy of Multisite rTMS in Depressed and Nondepressed Patients With Fibromyalgia and Prediction of the Response: a Double-Blind Randomized Sham-Controlled Study.

TypeinterventionalSponsorHospital Ambroise Paré ParisRan2026 to 2028Enrolled36ConditionsFibromyalgia, Depression - Major Depressive Disorder, Chronic PainArmsrTMS, Sham
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Jorge Dornellys da Silva LapaNeurosurgery Unit, Hospital de Cirurgia, Aracaju, Sergipe, Brazil.
Valquíria Aparecida da SilvaService of Interdisciplinary Neuromodulation (SIN), Department and Institute of Psychiatry, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil.
Daniel Ciampi de AndradeCenter for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), Department of Health Science and Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3411-632X

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has increasingly been used to modify cortical maladaptive plastic changes shown to occur in fibromyalgia (FM) and to correlate with symptoms. Evidence for its efficacy is currently inconclusive, mainly due to heterogeneity of stimulation parameters used in trials available to date. Here, we reviewed the current evidence on the use of rTMS for FM control in the format of a narrative review, in which a systematic dissection of the different stimulation parameters would be possible. We conducted a search in Medline and Embase for controlled trials on rTMS in people with FM with at least 10 participants in each treatment arm, and treatment/follow-up of at least 3 weeks. The search identified 482 abstracts, of which 45 were screened to full review, and 11 met inclusion criteria. Six out of 11 trials were positive. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was the target in 218 patients (49.2%), and the primary motor cortex (M1) in 225 (50.8%). Studies targeting M1 at 10 Hz, with stimulation current delivered in the posterior-anterior, were systematically positive, frequently showing that maintenance sessions delivered weekly, and biweekly were able to maintain the analgesic effects seen after daily induction sessions. Studies assessing the effects of rTMS for FM are still marked by heterogeneity in stimulation petameters, choice of primary outcomes, and inclusion criteria. The selection of the stimulation parameters associated with significant analgesic effects is likely to benefit following larger multicenter trials and improve the overall management of pain and associated symptoms in people with FM.

Indexed as

FibromyalgiaPainTranscranial magnetic stimulation

Identifiers

PMID39816903
PMCPMC11732646

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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.