High Frequency rTMS Treatment for Cognitive Impairments in Chronic Schizophrenia Patients
Schizophrenia

About this trial
This is an interventional treatment trial for Schizophrenia focused on measuring schizophrenia, rTMS
Eligibility Criteria
Inclusion Criteria:
- Diagnosis of schizopherenia by two senior psychiatrists
- Male
- Right-handed
- Between 18 and 60 years and Han Chinese
- Duration of symptoms at least 60 months
- Received stable doses of antipsychotic drugs at least 12 months
- With unresolved negative symptoms (Negative scale of PANSS ≥20 and positive scale of PANSS < 24)
Exclusion Criteria:
- A DSM-IV Axis I diagnosis other than schizophrenia
- Documented disease of physical diseases including, but not limited to seizure, epilepsy, aneurysm brain tumor, and stroke, dementia, parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis
- Acute, unstable and/or significant and untreated medical illness (e.g., infection, unstable diabetes, uncontrolled hypertension)
- Severe headache for unknown reasons and cardiovascular diseases, intra-cranial metals, pacemakers, severe and those receiving electroconvulsive therapy in the past 3 months
- Past history of autoimmune and allergies, hypertension, lung disease, diabetes or cerebrovascular disease), past history of neurological illness (head trauma with loss of consciousness for more than 5 minutes) or family history of epilepsy increasing the risk of seizures
- Education level less than 5 years by subject report,
- Receiving or planning to start the psychotherapy during the rTMS treatment or past received psychotherapy 6 months before the current study
- Subjects who suffered from alcohol or illegal drug abuse/dependence
Sites / Locations
Arms of the Study
Arm 1
Arm 2
Arm 3
Experimental
Experimental
Sham Comparator
10 Hz treatment group
20 Hz treatment group
Control Group
In active rTMS, 10 Hz stimulations over left DLPFC occurred at a power of 110% of MT for 27-s intervals with 20s inter-train interval. 20 minutes were administered each day (Monday-Friday) for 8 consecutive weeks.
In active rTMS, 20 Hz stimulations over left DLPFC occurred at a power of 110% of MT for 20 intervals with 28s inter-train interval. 20 minutes were administered each day (Monday-Friday) for 8 consecutive weeks.
In sham rTMS, all procedures were identical to 10Hz group except they were the non-magnetized steel cylinders, instead of cylindrical magnets, that were rotated.