Department of Cognitive Science and Education, University of Messina, Messina, ME, Italy.
Neuroscience Lab, Champlain College, Burlington, VT, 05402, USA.
Aging Clin Exp Res. 2021 Feb;33(2):383-390. doi: 10.1007/s40520-020-01546-8. Epub 2020 Apr 16.
Non-invasive brain stimulation is an effective treatment for Alzheimer's disease.
The purpose of the two studies presented here is to compare the short- and long-term effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (t-DCS) on two samples of advanced AD patients.
In Study 1 26 patients were involved in a 10-day anodal vs. sham tDCS intervention stimulating the left frontotemporal cortex. A pre-post test assessment was run using two different neurocognitive tests and EEG data. The same protocol was used in Study 2, which involved 18 different patients who underwent the same intervention 10 days a month for 8 months.
Results confirmed how the t-DCS intervention was effective both in the short- and the long-term to slow down the progression of AD on specific neurophysiological domains and, to a certain extent, on neurophysiological activity. Discussion tDCS appear to be effective and to affect differently neurocognitive and neurophysiological functions when comparing short and long-term outcomes. Conclusions Anodal-tDCS is an effective way to slow down the progression of Alzheimer's both in the short and long term. It can also affect the EEG patterns, but this requires a more protracted intervention.
非侵入性脑刺激是治疗阿尔茨海默病的有效方法。
本研究旨在比较经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）对两组晚期 AD 患者的短期和长期疗效。
在研究 1 中，26 名患者接受了为期 10 天的阳极 tDCS 与假刺激干预，刺激左额颞皮质。使用两种不同的神经认知测试和 EEG 数据进行了预-后测试评估。研究 2 采用相同的方案，涉及 18 名不同的患者，他们每月接受相同的干预 10 天，共 8 个月。
结果证实了 tDCS 干预在短期和长期内都能有效地减缓 AD 在特定神经生理领域的进展，并在一定程度上影响神经生理活动。讨论：tDCS 在比较短期和长期结果时，似乎有效且对神经认知和神经生理功能的影响不同。结论：阳极 tDCS 是一种有效减缓阿尔茨海默病短期和长期进展的方法。它还可以影响 EEG 模式，但这需要更长时间的干预。
