Transcranial alternating current stimulation improves quality of life in Parkinson ’s disease: study protocol for a randomized, double-blind, controlled trial

The objective of this study is to investigate whether the addition of tACS to multidisciplinary intensive rehabilitation tr eatment (MIRT) can improve symptoms of PWP so as to enhance the quality of life in individuals with Parkinson’s disease based on the central-peripheral-central theory.MethodsThe present study was a randomized, double-blind trial that enrolled 60 individuals with Parkinson ’s disease aged between 45 and 70 years, who had Hoehn-Yahr scale scores ranging from 1 to 3. Participants were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to either the tACS + MIRT group or the sham-tACS + MIRT group. The trial consisted of a two-week double-blind treatment period followed by a 24- week follow-up period, resulting in a total duration of twenty-six weeks. The primary outcome measured the change in PDQ-39 scores from baseline (T0) to 4 weeks (T2), 12 weeks (T3), and 24 weeks (T4) after completion of the intervention. The secondary outcome assessed changes in MDS-UPDRS III sco res at T0, the end of intervention (T1), T2, T3, and T4. Additional clinical assessments and mechanistic studies were conducted as tertiary outcomes.DiscussionThe objective of this study is to demonstrate that tACS can enhance overall functionality and improve quality of life in PWP, based on the framework of MIRT. Additionally, it seeks to establish a potential correlation between these therapeutic effects and neuroplasticity alterations in relevant brain regions. The efficacy of tACS will be ...
Source: Trials - Category: Research Source Type: clinical trials