Background: The autism spectrum disorders (ASD) describes a range of conditions classified as neurodevelopmental disorders. ASD is one of the most common child psychiatric disorders. The mechanisms underlying this brain disorder are still unknown.
Objective: To study the therapeutic effect of repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in patient diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
Patients and Methods: the sample consisted of 30 patients selected from outpatient pediatric clinic of Sayed Galal Al-Azhar University Hospital; in the period from June 2020 to December 2020 divided into two groups (15 received active rTMS intervention and 15 received Sham interventions to assess the Placebo effect). And their ages ranged from 4 to 10 years old diagnosed with ASD by using a modified clinical sheet, designed to diagnose of ASD according to DSM-5 criteria and Assessment of severity of ASD using Child Autism Rating Scale (CARS), Assessment of response and effectiveness of the treatment using Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scale (VABS) measure IQ and level of functioning, Clinician-Rated Severity of Autism Spectrum and Social Communication Disorders.
Results: The results of the study after the completion of 12 sessions of rTMS, There was significant decrease in the ASD severity according to CARS and DSM clinical rated severity and significant improvement in ATEC scores in the active group patients while non-significant changes in the sham group patients, while by Vineland scores showed no significant difference that in the active group patients as well as in the sham group.