Cerebellar Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation for Insomnia Disorder: A Randomized Sham‐Controlled Trial

First published online October 26, 2026. In a 72-person randomized trial, more participants receiving active cerebellar cTBS reached the study's sleep-quality improvement threshold than those receiving sham, and the difference remained at one month. The result is promising but does not establish durability beyond that short follow-up or identify who is most likely to benefit.

Liu X, Dong D, Song C, Ma Y, Wu D, Wang X, Hao J, Li H, Zhao J, Hu G, Xia F, Jiang W.
CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics · Publication date: 2026-10-26
Added to site: 2026-10-26
DOI: 10.1002/cns.71231

First published online October 26, 2026. Added to Neurofeedback.com October 26, 2026.

Modalities

cTBS, TMS, Resting-state fMRI

Clinical focus

Insomnia disorder, Sleep quality, Mood symptoms

Population

Adults with insomnia disorder

Sample

72 patients in the intention-to-treat analysis, including 51 women; mean age 44.3 years

Intervention / method

Two weeks of active or sham cerebellar continuous theta burst stimulation, with post-treatment and one-month assessments

Comparator

Sham cerebellar cTBS

Clinician summary

A three-point or greater Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index improvement occurred in 75.0% of the active group and 33.3% of the sham group, adjusted OR 6.06, 95% CI 2.17 to 18.50. Adjusted PSQI mean differences favored active cTBS after treatment by 3.34 points and at one month by 3.70 points. Insomnia, anxiety and depression scales also favored active treatment. No serious adverse events occurred.

How to interpret the findings

The checked abstract does not provide allocation-concealment detail, arm-specific attrition, nonserious adverse-event counts or longer follow-up. The wide odds-ratio interval reflects uncertainty. Several exploratory connectivity differences were reported, but only the right amygdala to right orbitofrontal interaction survived false-discovery correction. Imaging associations do not establish the mechanism of clinical change.

Equipment and disclosures

The abstract identifies cerebellar cTBS but does not name a device manufacturer. No equipment is attributed to BrainMaster or another vendor.

Registered as ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05992285. Crossref lists National Natural Science Foundation of China awards 82471471 and 82401702; the abstract also identifies an institutional clinical-research award. Competing-interest detail was not available in the checked abstract or retained Crossref record. No indexed correction, retraction or expression-of-concern relation appeared in the retained records; this is a bounded check. AI-assisted source review.

Related evidence

Compare findings from the same clinical area, including mixed results.

• Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for the treatment of restless legs syndrome · Positive with limitations
• Home-based low-field magnetic stimulation as an adjunctive treatment for bipolar depression: A randomized double-blind study · Mixed