A randomized, double-blind clinical trial on the efficacy of cortical direct current stimulation for the treatment of major depression
2008 | journal article. A publication with affiliation to the University of Göttingen.
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A randomized, double-blind clinical trial on the efficacy of cortical direct current stimulation for the treatment of major depression
Boggio, P. S.; Rigonatti, S. P.; Ribeiro, R. B.; Myczkowski, M. L.; Nitsche, M. A.; Pascual-Leone, A. & Fregni, F. (2008)
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology, 11(2) pp. 249-254. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1461145707007833
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Details
- Authors
- Boggio, Paulo Sergio; Rigonatti, Sergio P.; Ribeiro, Rafael B.; Myczkowski, Martin L.; Nitsche, Michael A.; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Fregni, Felipe
- Abstract
- Preliminary findings suggest that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can have antidepressant effects. We sought to test this further in a parallel-group, double-blind clinical trial with 40 patients with major depression, medication-free randomized into three groups of treatment: anodal tDCS of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (active group-'DLPFC'); anodal tDCS of the occipital cortex (active control group-'occipital') and sham tDCS (placebo control group-'sham'). tDCS was applied for 10 sessions during a 2-wk period. Mood was evaluated by a blinded rater using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS) and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). The treatment was well tolerated with minimal side-effects that were distributed equally across all treatment groups. We found significantly larger reductions in depression scores after DLPFC tDCS [HDRS reduction of 40.4 % (+/-25.8%)] compared to occipital [HDRS reduction of 21.3 % ( +/-12.9%)] and sham tDCS [HDRS reduction of 10.4 % (+/-36.6%)]. The beneficial effects of tDCS in the DLPFC group persisted for 1 month after the end of treatment. Our findings support further investigation on the effects of this novel potential therapeutic approach - tDCS - for the treatment of major depression.
- Issue Date
- 2008
- Status
- published
- Publisher
- Cambridge Univ Press
- Journal
- The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
- ISSN
- 1461-1457
- Sponsor
- FAPESP; NIH [DK071851-01, K24 RR018875]; Harvard University