Neuroprotective Effects of Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation in Parkinson’s Disease (NET-PD): A Study Protocol for a Delayed-Start Randomized Double-Blind Sham-Controlled Trial

Background: As a typical high-disability neurodegenerative disease, Parkinson’s disease (PD) progresses variably, and patients who are clinically insensitive to dopaminergic therapy and whose symptoms fail to improve are commonly observed. As a result, achieving early neuron protection is critical. Methods/Design: The NET-PD study is a 2-year prospective single-center, double-blind, multi-arm, delayed-start, sham-controlled clinical trial assessing the long-term neuroprotective effect of intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) in PD patients. Patients diagnosed with PD, aged 50–80, Hoehn–Yahr stage ≤4, and who maintain medication stability during the study will be enrolled. Clinical assessment and multi-modal markers are used to clarify the clinical improvement and dynamic neuronal changes in PD patients. With a standard deviation of 2, a test level of 0.05, a dropout rate of 10%, and a degree of certainty of 0.9, 60 PD patients are required for this study. Results: The NET-PD project was funded in March 2022, data collection began in July 2022, and is currently in the recruitment phase with two PD patients already enrolled. Data collection is expected to be completed in June 2024. The results are expected for publication in December 2024. Discussion: Previous research has demonstrated a rudimentary method for assessing and delaying PD progression in clinical medication trials. The NET-PD study adopts a rigorous methodology and specific disease-modifying designs to demonstrate the neuroprotective effect of iTBS on PD and investigate the potential mechanism of iTBS in regulating brain and motor functions. We hope to provide supposition for the subsequent exploration of diverse neuroprotection methods.