Abstract:Objective To investigate the effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and its intervention timing on the recovery of motor dysfunction after acute cerebral infarction (ACI). Methods A total of 120 patients with motor dysfunction caused by ACI in The First Affiliated Hospital of Hainan Medical University from June 2020 to December 2021 were selected and randomly divided into control group and treatment group (n=60, each). Both groups were treated with routine medicine and rehabilitation training,and treatment group was treated with repetitive TMS (30 cases of low-frequency therapy, 30 cases of high-frequency therapy) , while control group was treated with sham stimulation. According to the time of TMS intervention, treatment group was divided into two subgroups: ＜72 h and ＞72 h after onset. National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), Barthel index (BI), motor function (MAS) and Wolf score were compared between treatment group and control group, low-frequency subgroup and high-frequency subgroup, ＜72 h subgroup and ＞72 h subgroup before and after treatment. Results One month after the treatment, the NIHSS, BI, motor function scores and Wolf scores in treatment group were significantly improved compared with those before treatment and those in control group (P＜0.05); there was no significant difference in NIHSS, BI, motor function and Wolf scores between the low-frequency subgroup and high-frequency subgroup, and between ＜72 hours subgroup and ＞72 hours subgroup (P＞0.05). Conclusion Repetitive TMS can effectively improve the motor function of patients with ACI within one week after onset, and different intervention timing and stimulation frequency have no significant effect on the recovery of motor function after cerebral infarction.