Frontiers in Psychiatry (Aug 2023)

Home-administered transcranial direct current stimulation is a feasible intervention for depression: an observational cohort study

  • Leigh Charvet,
  • Allan George,
  • Erik Charlson,
  • Matthew Lustberg,
  • Amy Vogel-Eyny,
  • Tehila Eilam-Stock,
  • Hyein Cho,
  • Pamela Best,
  • Luis Fernandez,
  • Abhishek Datta,
  • Abhishek Datta,
  • Marom Bikson,
  • Kamran Nazim,
  • Giuseppina Pilloni

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1199773
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

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Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an emerging treatment for major depression. We recruited participants with moderate-to-severe major depressive episodes for an observational clinical trial using Soterix Medical's tDCS telehealth platform as a standard of care. The acute intervention consisted of 28 sessions (5 sessions/week, 6 weeks) of the left anodal dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) tDCS (2.0 mA × 30 min) followed by a tapering phase of weekly sessions for 4 weeks (weeks 7–10). The n = 16 completing participants had a significant reduction in depressive symptoms by week 2 of treatment [Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Baseline: 28.00 ± 4.35 vs. Week 2: 17.12 ± 5.32, p < 0.001] with continual improvement across each biweekly timepoint. Acute intervention responder and remission rates were 75 and 63% and 88 and 81% following the taper period (week 10).

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