Frontiers in Neuroscience (Apr 2019)

Effects of Long-Lasting High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Chronic Disorders of Consciousness: A Pilot Study

  • Yongkun Guo,
  • Yang Bai,
  • Yang Bai,
  • Xiaoyu Xia,
  • Jinju Li,
  • Xiaoli Wang,
  • Yiwu Dai,
  • Yuanyuan Dang,
  • Jianghong He,
  • Chunying Liu,
  • Hui Zhang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00412
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13

Abstract

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) recently was shown to benefit rehabilitation of patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC). However, high-Definition tDCS (HD-tDCS) has not been applied in DOC. In this study, we tried to use HD-tDCS protocol (2 mA, 20 min, the precuneus, and sustaining 14 days) to rehabilitate 11 patients with DOC. Electroencephalography (EEG) and Coma Recovery Scale–Revised (CRS-R) scores were recorded at before (T0), after a single session (T1), after 7 days’ (T2), and 14 days’ HD-tDCS (T3) to assess the modulation effects. EEG coherence was measured to evaluate functional connectivity during the experiment. It showed that 9 patients’ scores increased compared with the baseline. The central-parietal coherence significantly decreased in the delta band in patients with DOC. EEG coherence might be useful for assessing the effect of HD-tDCS in patients with DOC. Long-lasting HD-tDCS over the precuneus is promising for the treatment of patients with DOC.

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