Trial reportThe European journal of neuroscience2021
A double-blind sham-controlled phase 1 clinical trial of tDCS of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in cocaine inpatients: Craving, sleepiness, and contemplation to change.
Trial report in The European journal of neuroscience, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Objective and subjective measurement of sleep in people who use substances: Emerging evidence and recommendations from a systematic review.Journal of sleep research · 2025Pooled it
- Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Across Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review and Dose-Response Meta-Analysis.JAMA network open · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of neuromodulation therapies for substance use disorders.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Telehealth tDCS to reduce cannabis use: A pilot RCT in multiple sclerosis as a framework for generalized use.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Trial
- Sex and Hormonal Effects on Drug Cue Reactivity and Its Regulation in Human Addiction.Biological psychiatry · 2026Article
- Non-invasive neurostimulation techniques for the treatment of stimulant use disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Increased Neuroplasticity in Frontal Cortex to Reduce Compulsive Behavior: A Preclinical tDCS Study in Male Rats.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Article
- Effects of tDCS of the DLPFC on brain networks: A hybrid brain modeling study.PLoS computational biology · 2025Article
- Repeated prefrontal tDCS improves cognitive emotion regulation and readiness for treatment in substance use disorder: A randomized sham-controlled study.Addictive behaviors reports · 2025Article
- Efficacy of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in Substance Use Disorder (SUD)-A Review and Insights into Possible Mechanisms of Action.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Impact of neuromodulation on excessive daytime sleepiness: a narrative review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Is Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Effective for Cognitive Dysfunction in Substance Use Disorders? A Systematic Review.Brain sciences · 2024Review
- Will the promise of translational neuropsychopharmacology research ever deliver? The lion's roar; the kitten's purr.NPP - digital psychiatry and neuroscience · 2024Review
- The Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Cocaine Addiction: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Review
- Prefrontal-habenular microstructural impairments in human cocaine and heroin addiction.Neuron · 2022Article
- Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Attentional Bias to Methamphetamine Cues and Its Association With EEG-Derived Functional Brain Network Topology.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- The neurobiology of drug addiction: cross-species insights into the dysfunction and recovery of the prefrontal cortex.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Review
- Noninvasive brain stimulation of addiction: one target for all?Psychoradiology · 2021Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Impaired inhibitory control accompanied by enhanced salience attributed to drug-related cues, both associated with function of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), are hallmarks of drug addiction, contributing to worse symptomatology including craving. dlPFC modulation with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) previously showed craving reduction in inpatients with cocaine use disorder (CUD). Our study aimed at assessing feasibility of a longer tDCS protocol in CUD (15 versus the common five/10 sessions) and replicability of previous results. In a randomized double-blind sham-controlled protocol, 17 inpatients with CUD were assigned to either a real-tDCS (right anodal/left cathodal) or a sham-tDCS condition for 15 sessions. Following the previous report, primary outcome measures were self-reported craving, anxiety, depression, and quality of life. Secondary measures included sleepiness, readiness to change drug use, and affect. We also assessed cognitive function including impulsivity. An 88% retention rate demonstrated feasibility. Partially supporting the previous results, there was a trend for self-reported craving to decrease in the real-tDCS group more than the sham-group, an effect that would reach significance with 15 subjects per group. Quality of life and impulsivity improved over time in treatment in both groups. Daytime sleepiness and readiness to change drug use showed significant Group × Time interactions whereby improvements were noted only in the real-tDCS group. One-month follow-up suggested transient effects of tDCS on sleepiness and craving. These preliminary results suggest the need for including more subjects to show a unique effect of real-tDCS on craving and examine the duration of this effect. After replication in larger sample sizes, increased vigilance and motivation to change drug use in the real-tDCS group may suggest fortification of dlPFC-supported executive functions.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.