Background. Evidence remains mixed as to the effectiveness of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) in treating mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Objective. In this study, we examined the short- and long-term effects of patterned rTMS. Methods. We randomly assigned 35 patients with PD with MCI to two groups. One group received intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS; n = 20), and the other received its sham counterpart (n = 15). The stimulations were applied over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for 10 consecutive weekdays. Measurements based on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) were conducted at three time points: at baseline, immediately after the last intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Each patient received a 99mTc-TRODAT-1 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) brain scan at baseline. Results. The iTBS group exhibited significantly greater improvement than the sham group did in total RBANS and MoCA scores (p < .001 for both) immediately after intervention and at the 3-month follow-up. Radiotracer uptake in the bilateral basal ganglion in baseline SPECT was positively correlated with response to iTBS conditioning with respect to improvements in MoCA scores (p = .021). Conclusion. This randomised controlled trial provides evidence that a consecutive iTBS protocol can achieve a persistent and wide-ranging therapeutic effect in patients with PD with MCI.

背景。关于重复经颅磁刺激 (rTMS) 治疗帕金森病 (PD) 患者轻度认知障碍 (MCI) 的有效性的证据仍然不一。客观的。在这项研究中，我们检查了图案化 rTMS 的短期和长期影响。方法。我们将 35 名患有 MCI 的 PD 患者随机分配到两组。一组接受间歇性θ脉冲刺激（iTBS；n = 20），另一组接受假刺激（n = 15）。连续 10 个工作日对左侧背外侧前额叶皮层施加刺激。基于神经心理状态评估的可重复电池 (RBANS) 和蒙特利尔认知评估 (MoCA) 的测量在三个时间点进行：基线时、最后一次干预后立即和 3 个月的随访。每位患者在基线时接受了 99mTc-TRODAT-1 单光子发射计算机断层扫描 (SPECT) 脑部扫描。结果。iTBS 组的 RBANS 和 MoCA 总分明显优于假手术组（p< .001 两者）在干预后立即和 3 个月随访时。基线 SPECT 中双侧基底节的放射性示踪剂摄取与对 iTBS 调节的反应在 MoCA 评分改善方面呈正相关 ( p = .021)。结论。这项随机对照试验提供的证据表明，连续的 iTBS 方案可以在患有 MCI 的 PD 患者中实现持续和广泛的治疗效果。