Wang 2008.
| Study characteristics | ||
| Methods | Randomised, open‐label, AED‐controlled, parallel‐design study 2 treatment arms: rTMS plus carbamazepine (n = 15) and "drug treatment" (n = 15) Baseline period: not stated Follow‐up period: 30 days |
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| Participants | Single‐centre study in China 30 participants randomised (15 to rTMS group and 15 to AED group) rTMS group: mean age 27.9 years (SD 4.1 years); 10 males, 5 females. AED group: mean age 27.6 years (SD 3.9 years); 9 males, 6 females People with temporal lobe epilepsy and epileptiform discharges were enrolled |
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| Interventions | Treatment period: 7 days (for rTMS group), 60 days for AED group 1‐hertz rTMS at 90% RMT threshold, simulation frequency of 500 times, once a day for 7 days. Drug treatment group received 600 to 800 mg oral carbamazepine per day for at least 60 days. |
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| Outcomes | Change in seizure frequency per week post‐treatment Positive rate of epileptiform charges reported Proportion of people experiencing adverse events |
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| Notes | Imbalance in treatment time across the intervention groups | |
| Risk of bias | ||
| Bias | Authors' judgement | Support for judgement |
| Random sequence generation (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Study is described as randomised, no further information given |
| Allocation concealment (selection bias) | Unclear risk | Concealment of allocation not described |
| Blinding of participants and personnel (performance bias) All outcomes | Unclear risk | Open‐label study (cannot be blinded due to design), unclear if outcomes were influenced |
| Blinding of outcome assessment (detection bias) All outcomes | High risk | Open‐label study, outcome assessors not blinded |
| Incomplete outcome data (attrition bias) All outcomes | Low risk | No evidence of missing data, no withdrawals from the study. ITT analysis used. |
| Selective reporting (reporting bias) | Low risk | Study protocols were not available. Primary and secondary outcomes stated in the methods section were reported in the results, all expected outcomes were reported. |
| Other bias | Low risk | No additional sources of bias identified |
AED: antiepileptic drug CPS: complex partial seizure ED: epileptiform discharges EEG: electroencephalogram GTCS: generalised tonic clonic seizure ITT: intention‐to‐treat RMT: resting motor threshold rTMS: repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation SD: standard deviation TMS: transcranial magnetic stimulation