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Updated: Apr 13, 2026
Determining the Functional Status of the Corticospinal Tract Within One Week of Stroke
Published on: February 22, 2020
Factors associated with upper extremity motor recovery after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in stroke
Jong Hwa Lee1, Sang Beom Kim1, Kyeong Woo Lee1
1Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea. ; Regional Cardiocerebrovascular Center, Dong-A University Hospital, Busan, Korea.
Objective:
To determine factors associated with motor recovery of the upper extremity after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment in stroke patients.
Methods:
Twenty-nine patients with subacute stroke participated in this study. rTMS was applied to the hand motor cortex for 10 minutes at a 110% resting motor threshold and 10 Hz frequency for two weeks. We evaluated the biographical, neurological, clinical, and functional variables, in addition to the motor-evoked potential (MEP) response. The Manual Function Test (MFT) was performed before, immediately after, and two weeks after, the treatment. Patients were divided into a responder and non-responder group according to their respective improvements on the MFT. Data were compared between the two groups.
Results:
Patients with exclusively subcortical stroke, absence of aphasia, the presence of a MEP response, high scores on the Mini-Mental Status Examination, Motricity Index arm score, Functional Independence Measure, and Functional Ambulatory Classification; and a shorter period from stroke onset to rTMS were found to be significantly associated with a response to rTMS.
Conclusion:
The results of this study suggest that rTMS may have a greater effect on upper extremity motor recovery in stroke patients who have a MEP response, suffer an exclusively subcortical stroke, mild paresis, and have good functional status. Applying rTMS early would have additional positive effects in the patients with the identified characteristics.
