The effect of theta

To evaluate the effectiveness of theta-burst stimulation for the treatment of stroke-induced unilateral spatial neglect. A systematic literature search was conducted from the inception of each database to 30 June 2018 using CINAHL, EMBASE, PubMed, PsycINFO, and Scopus. Articles were included if theta-burst stimulation was used to treat neglect following a stroke. The additional a priori inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) ？3 adult (？18？years) participants, (2) ？50% stroke population, and (3) peer-reviewed journal articles published in English. Extracted data included study and treatment characteristics, results, and adverse events. Nine studies met the inclusion criteria, generating a total of 148 participants. Eight studies evaluated a continuous stimulation protocol and one study investigated an intermittent stimulation protocol. Overall, both protocols significantly improved neglect severity when compared against placebo or active controls (P？<？0.05). Adding smooth pursuit training to theta-burst stimulation did not improve neglect relative to when the stimulation was delivered alone (P？>？0.05). There was inconsistent reporting of neglect terminology, outcome measures, and adverse events. The treatment characteristics were heterogeneous among the trials. This systematic review found that theta-burst stimulation seems to improve post-stroke unilateral spatial neglect, but because the evidence is limited to a few small studies with varied and inconsistent protocols and use of terminology, no firm conclusion on effectiveness can be drawn