Objective: To introduce the general situation of the internal and external clinical studies about transcranial magnetic stimulation technology in studying and applying in epilepsy of the recent years, so as to further widen the thinking of epilepsy treatment. Data sources: A computer-based online search of China Hospital Knowledge Database (CHKD) was undertaken to identify relevant articles published in Chinese between 1994 and 2004 with the keywords of "transcranial magnetic stimulation, epilepsy" in Chinese. Meanwhile, a computer-based online search of JournalsΟvid Full Text was undertaken to identify relevant articles published in English between 1980 and 2004 with the keywords of "transcranial magnetic stimulation, epilepsy" in Chinese. Study selection: The data were checked firstly, and the full-texts of review articles, clinical and animal trials were searched. Review articles are full texts about the application of transcranial magnetic stimulation in neuropsychiatry in recent 5 years. The Inclusive criteria: 1 having definite diagnostic ctiteria 2 randomized control study or control trial, whether follow up and blinded method were used or not was not restricted. 3 the interventions in the treatment group should be transcranial magnetic stimulation or transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with antiepilepsy drugs or transcranial magnetic stimulation combined with placebo, and those in the control group should be antiepilepsy drugs, antiepilepsy drugs combined with modeling transcranial magnetic stimulation and only transcranial magnetic stimulation or without antiepilepsy measures. Exclusive criteria: 1 non-control study; 2 the interventions in the treatment group or control group did not accord with the inclusive criteria. Data extraction: Totally 113 relevant articles were collected and 26 of them according with the inclusive criteria were selected, and others were excluded. Data synthesis: Of the 26 articles, 12 were review articles, 7 of them were the application and advance about transcranial magnetic stimulation in neuropsychiatry and 5 of them were the study of transcranial magnetic stimulation in epilepsy. Review articles excepted, 4 were animal trail studies, and 8 were randomized control studies and 2 were control studies. Conclusion: Transcranial magnetic stimulation is a new no invade technique in the research of epilepsy, which appears safe, effective and tried characters, and broke a new path for the clinical study and treatment in epilepsy. At present, it has some side-effects, but it is believed that it will has a good develop prospect, with the improvements both in the equipment and technology.