Study of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Treatment of Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia

Study of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in the Treatment of Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia

1. Exploration of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation（rTMS）on working memory and cognitive impairment symptoms of schizophrenia treatment and mechanism.
2. Analysis of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation stimulation to the improvement of negative symptoms and psychotic symptoms.

The study was a randomized double-blind sham-controlled trial for 4 weeks. Patients with schizophrenia were treated with 20-Hz rTMS for 4 weeks to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (added to the ongoing treatment). Negative symptoms were assessed with the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS), the Positive and Negative symptom scale (PANSS).The auditory steady state responses (ASSR) were obtained for the assessment of gamma oscillation.And cognitive symptoms were assessed by MATRICS cognitive test battery (MCCB) Chinese version and n-back task.

Inclusion Criteria:

• 1）patients to be diagnosed according to the Fourth Edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders(DSM-IV) for paranoid schizophrenia；2）20～49 years old；3）Duration of 2 ~ 10 years;4）the disease situation is stable， the fluctuation of Positive and Negative Symptom Scale（PANSS）total score ≤10% in last 1 month, and have accepted the current drugs for more than 8 weeks; 5）Patients, their families and doctors are agreed that the disease situation is stable and maintained current drug treatment in next month；6）Signed an informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

• 1)patients to be diagnosed according to DSM-IV for substance abused,development delayed;2)suffering from serious physical disease and can not accept the treatment;3)repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation(rTMS) contraindications: intracranial metal substance, with heart pacemakers and cochlear implants, intracranial pressure;4)the disease situation is not stable， the fluctuation of Positive and Negative Symptom Scale（PANSS）total score >10% in last 1 month, Positive and Negative Symptom Scale（PANSS）total score > 60;5)difficult to maintain the current drug treatment for at least 1 month;6）undergoing electroconvulsive therapy（ECT）in last 3 months.