Effect Of RTMS Combined With TDCS On Children With ASD

Objective:The treatment of Autism spectrum disorder(ASD)is a recognized problem worldwide.Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation(rTMS)and Transcranial direct-current stimulation(tDCS)are two of the newly developed non-invasive and safe stimulation technologies for the central nervous system.At present,tDCS has been widely used in the diagnosis and treatment of various neuropsychiatric diseases,but the application of these two intervention methods in ASD is still in the stage of exploration,especially the related research on tDCS is less.Previous studies have shown that rTMS and tDCS can improve the symptoms of ASD to some extent and have a high safety.However,there are few studies at home and abroad on the combined effect of rTMS and tDCS,so further research is needed.In this study,we investigated the efficacy of rTMS combined with tDCS in the treatment of ASD and that of rTMS alone in the treatment of ASD,to explore whether the combined therapy is superior to the single therapy,and to provide more reference for the treatment of ASD.Methods:In this study,60 children with ASD who received rehabilitation treatment in the Department of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine in our hospital were randomly divided into two groups.Both groups were treated with comprehensive rehabilitation therapy.The treatment group was treated with rTMS combined with tDCS.Children were assessed before treatment and after 6 months of treatment,the assessment items included the Activities of Daily Living Autism Checklist(ABC),Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist(ATEC),Mismatch negativity(MMN)and gating P50 ratio.ResultsAfter six months of treatment,the scores of cardiac scale,ABC scale and ATEC scale in children with ASD in treatment group and control group were significantly improved before and after treatment(P<0.05);the latency and amplitude of Fz and Cz leads of MMN in the treatment group and the control group were all improved(P<0.05),but the improvement was more obvious in the treatment group the P50 ratio in the treatment group was lower than that in the control group(P<0.05),but 95%the P50 ratio of the children were still higher than 0.5.Conclusions:Treatment Group and Control Group can improve the symptoms of ASD children,the treatment group in speech,social,sensory improvement is better than the control group,tDCS combined with rTMS in speech,social,sensory perception better than control group;After treatment,MMN latency became shorter and amplitude became higher in children with ASD,and P50 ratio of gating decreased.While the symptoms of ASD children improved,their neuroelectrophysiological data gradually became normal,therefore,the improvement of symptoms in children with ASD is consistent with the changes of electrophysiological data,which proves that rTMS combined with tDCS May improve the related symptoms by regulating the nervous system of children with ASD.