Background: Scalp acupuncture (SA) and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are effective for\ntreating cerebral infarction. This study aims to examine the efficacy and safety of SA and electromagnetic\nconvergence stimulation (SAEM-CS), which was developed through collaboration between conventional medical\nphysicians and doctors who practice traditional Korean medicine. SAEM-CS was designed to improve function in\npatients with cerebral infarction, compared to the improvement after conventional stroke rehabilitation, SA, and\nrTMS therapeutic approaches.\nMethods/design: This study is a prospective, outcome assessor-blinded, randomized controlled clinical trial with a\n1:1:1:1 allocation ratio. Participants with motion or sensory disabilities caused by a first-time cerebral infarction (n =\n60) that had occurred within 1 month of the study onset will be randomly assigned to control, SA, rTMS, or SAEMCS\ngroups. All groups will receive two sessions of conventional rehabilitation treatment per day. The SA group will\nreceive SA on the upper limb area of MS6 and MS7 (at the lesional hemisphere) for 20 min, the rTMS group will\nreceive low-frequency rTMS (LF-rTMS) treatment on the hot spot of the M1 region (motor cortex at the\ncontralesional hemisphere) for 20 min, and the SAEM-CS group will receive LF-rTMS over the contralesional M1\nregion hot spot while receiving simultaneous SA stimulation on the lesional upper limb area of MS6 and MS7 for\n20 min. SA, rTMS, and SAEM-CS treatments will be conducted once/day, 5 days/week (excluding Saturdays and\nSundays) for 3 weeks, for a total of 15 sessions. The primary outcome will be evaluated using the Fuglââ?¬ÂMeyer\nAssessment, while other scales assessing cognitive function, activities of daily living, walking, quality of life, and\nstroke severity are considered secondary outcome measures. Outcome measurements will be conducted at\nbaseline (before intervention), 3 weeks after the first intervention (end of intervention), and 4 weeks after\nintervention completion.\nDiscussion: This study aims to explore the efficacy and safety of SAEM-CS on cerebral infarction. Collaborative\nresearch combined traditional Korean and conventional medicines, which can be useful in developing new\ntreatment technologies.
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