To investigate the therapeutic effect of dual hemisphere repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on post-stroke non fluent aphasia.

Thirty patients with subacute post-stroke non-fluent aphasia were randomly allocated with a ratio 2:1 to receive real (n = 20) or sham (n = 10) rTMS of the affected motor cortex. Each patient received 1000 rTMS pulses (1 Hertz at 110% of resting motor threshold) over the unaffected Broca's area and 1000 pulses (20 Hertz at 100% resting motor threshold) over affected left Broca's area for 10 consecutive days. LANGUAGE section of hemispheric stroke scale, Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire Hospital Version (SADQ-H) and NIH stroke scale were assessed before, post sessions, 1 and 2 months after the last session . Motor threshold was assessed before and after the end of last session.

Inclusion Criteria:

• acute hemiplegia with non-fluent aphasia, single thromboembolic non-haemorrhagic infarction documented by computerized tomography (CT) in the distribution of middle cerebral artery.

Exclusion Criteria:

• head injury or neurological disease other than stroke,
• Unstable cardiac dysrhythmia,
• Fever,
• Infection,
• Hyperglycaemia
• Prior administration of tranquilizer
• Patients with no motor evoked response recorded from first dorsal interosseus (FDI) muscle of the affected hand