SynthesisNeurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology2025
Efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for phantom limb pain- a meta analysis of randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Ipsilateral inhibitory rTMS restores interhemispheric motor cortex balance and reduces phantom limb pain: an exploratory longitudinal nTMS mapping study.Journal of neuroengineering and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Effect of the combination of acupuncture based on Yuan-Luo Da-Jie-Jing and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on type 1 complex regional pain after stroke: a randomized controlled trial protocol.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPhantom limb pain (PLP) is a neuropathic syndrome experienced by the majority of amputees. Various treatment options are available for amputees suffering from PLP including pharmacological, psychological and neuromodulation techniques. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique that has proven its efficacy in alleviating PLP. Hence, we aimed to conduct a meta-analysis to evaluate the effectiveness of rTMS in improving pain in patients with PLP.
methodsLiterature search was carried out on 5 electronic databases from the inception of the paper till 13th August, 2024. Randomized Controlled Trials evaluating the efficacy of rTMS in patients with PLP against a control group were included in our study. The Visual Analogue Scoring (VAS) system was used to evaluate the severity of pain. Quality assessment was performed with the Cochrane bias assessment tool and data was pooled on Review manager using the Mantel-Haenszel Random-effects model.
results5 RCTs included in this paper were included and consisted of 140 participants experiencing PLP. There was a significant reduction in pain score in the rTMS group at the end of treatment when compared to the control group (P = 0.00001). A drop out sensitivity analysis significantly improved the results by reducing the heterogeneity to null (P = 0.00001). After 30 days of treatment, there was a significant difference of pain score from baseline in rTMS groups.
conclusionOur meta-analysis demonstrates the role of rTMS in significantly reducing VAS score in patients with PLP. In the future, larger clinical trials are required that evaluate the long-term efficacy profile of rTMS to establish it as a mainstay of therapy in patients with PLP.
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Registered trials
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