Transcranial direct current stimulation for the treatment of post-stroke depression in aphasic patients: a case series.

Transcranial direct current stimulation for the treatment of post-stroke depression in aphasic patients: a case series. Neurocase. 2016 Jan 8;:1-4 Authors: Valiengo L, Casati R, Bolognini N, Lotufo PA, Benseñor IM, Goulart AC, Brunoni AR Abstract Aphasia is a common consequence of stroke; it is estimated that about two-thirds of aphasic patients will develop depression in the first year after the stroke. Treatment of post-stroke depression (PSD) is challenging due to the adverse effects of pharmacotherapy and difficulties in evaluating clinical outcomes, including aphasia. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a novel treatment that may improve clinical outcomes in the traditionally pharmacotherapy-refractory PSD. Our aim was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of tDCS for patients with PSD and with aphasia. The Stroke Aphasic Depression Questionnaire (SADQ) and the Aphasic Depression Rating Scale (ADRS) were used to evaluate the severity of PSD. The diagnoses of PSD and aphasia were confirmed by a psychiatrist and a speech-language pathologist, respectively. In this open case series, patients (n = 4) received 10 sessions (once a day) of bilateral tDCS to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and two additional sessions after two and four weeks, for a total of 12 sessions. All patients exhibited improvement in depression after tDCS, as indicated by a decrease in SADQ (47.5%) and in ADRS (65.7%). This improvement w...
Source: Neurocase - Category: Neurology Authors: Tags: Neurocase Source Type: research