Cathodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Children With Dystonia: A Sham-Controlled Study

Increased motor cortex excitability is a common finding in dystonia, and transcranial direct current stimulation can reduce motor cortex excitability. In an earlier study, we found that cathodal direct-current stimulation decreased motor overflow for some children with dystonia. To investigate this...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of child neurology 2014-02, Vol.29 (2), p.232-239
Main Authors: Young, Scott J., Bertucco, Matteo, Sanger, Terence D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Brain Injuries - complications
Cathodes
Cerebral Palsy - complications
Child
Cross-Over Studies
Double-Blind Method
Dystonia - etiology
Dystonia - physiopathology
Dystonia - therapy
Electric Stimulation Therapy
Electromyography
Female
Hand - physiology
Humans
Male
Motor Activity - physiology
Motor Cortex - physiopathology
Muscle, Skeletal - physiology
Task Performance and Analysis
Treatment Outcome
Young Adult
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Summary:Increased motor cortex excitability is a common finding in dystonia, and transcranial direct current stimulation can reduce motor cortex excitability. In an earlier study, we found that cathodal direct-current stimulation decreased motor overflow for some children with dystonia. To investigate this observation further, we performed a sham-controlled, double-blind, crossover study of 14 children with dystonia. We found a significant reduction in overflow following real stimulation, when participants performed the experimental task with the hand contralateral to the cathode. While these results suggest that cathodal stimulation may help some children to reduce involuntary overflow, the size of the effect is small. Further research will need to investigate ways to increase the magnitude of the effect of cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation.
ISSN:0883-0738
1708-8283
DOI:10.1177/0883073813492385