Cortical stimulation of the prefrontal cortex with transcranial direct current stimulation reduces cue-provoked smoking craving: A randomized, sham-controlled study
2008 | journal article. A publication with affiliation to the University of Göttingen.
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Cortical stimulation of the prefrontal cortex with transcranial direct current stimulation reduces cue-provoked smoking craving: A randomized, sham-controlled study
Fregni, F.; Liguori, P.; Fecteau, S.; Nitsche, M. A.; Pascual-Leone, A. & Boggio, P. S. (2008)
The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 69(1) pp. 32-40.
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Details
- Authors
- Fregni, Felipe; Liguori, Paola; Fecteau, Shirley; Nitsche, Michael A.; Pascual-Leone, Alvaro; Boggio, Paulo Sergio
- Abstract
- Objective: Because neuroimaging studies have shown that cue-provoked smoking craving is associated with changes in the activity of the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), we aimed to investigate whether a powerful technique of noninvasive brain stimulation, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), reduces cue-provoked smoking craving as indexed by a visual analog scale. Method: We performed a randomized, sham-controlled crossover study in which 24 subjects received sham and active tDCS (anodal tDCS of the left and right DLPFC) in a randomized order. Craving was induced by cigarette manipulation and exposure to a smoking video. The study ran from January 2006 to October 2006. Results: Smoking craving was significantly increased after exposure to smoking-craving cues (p < .0001). Stimulation of both left and right DLPFC with active, but not sham, tDCS reduced craving significantly when comparing craving at baseline and after stimulation, without (p = .007) and with (p = .005) smoking-craving cues. There were no significant mood changes in any of the conditions of stimulation. Adverse events were mild and distributed equally across all treatment conditions. Conclusions: Our findings extend the results of a previous study on the use of brain stimulation to reduce craving, showing that cortical stimulation with tDCS is beneficial for reducing cue-provoked craving, and thus support the further exploration of this technique for smoking cessation.
- Issue Date
- 2008
- Status
- published
- Publisher
- Physicians Postgraduate Press
- Journal
- The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry
- ISSN
- 0160-6689
- Sponsor
- NHLBI NIH HHS [K30 HL04095]