Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34079513›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in neurology2021

Chronic Migraine Preventive Treatment by Prefrontal-Occipital Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS): A Proof-of-Concept Study on the Effect of Psychiatric Comorbidities.

Giulio Mastria, Alessandro Viganò, Alessandra Corrado, Valentina Mancini, Cristina Pirillo, Simone Badini, Barbara Petolicchio, Massimiliano Toscano, Marta Altieri, Roberto Delle Chiaie and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in neurology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
0.9field-weighted citation impact, top 28% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Trial
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
  6. Real-world application of Short Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (STPP) as chronic migraine preventive therapy: Profiling responders and predictive factors.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2025
    Observational
  7. Article
  8. Non-Pharmacological Treatment for Chronic Migraine.Current pain and headache reports · 2023
    Review
  9. Update of Neuromodulation in Chronic Migraine.Current pain and headache reports · 2021
    Review
  10. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

11 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.

Giulio MastriaDepartment of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Alessandro ViganòFondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi Onlus (IRCCS), Milan, Italy.
Alessandra CorradoDepartment of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Valentina ManciniDepartment of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Cristina PirilloDepartment of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Simone BadiniDepartment of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Barbara PetolicchioDepartment of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Massimiliano ToscanoDepartment of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Marta AltieriDepartment of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Roberto Delle ChiaieDepartment of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Vittorio Di PieroDepartment of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza-University of Rome, Rome, Italy.
Sapienza University of Rome · ITDon Carlo Gnocchi Foundation · ITFatebenefratelli Hospital · ITUniversity of Geneva · CHUniversity of Pavia · IT

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Chronic migraine (CM) is often complicated by medication overuse headache (MOH) and psychiatric comorbidities that may influence the clinical outcome. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between psychiatric comorbidities and the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in patients with CM with or without MOH. We recruited 16 consecutive CM patients who had an unsatisfactory response to at least three pharmacological preventive therapies. They were treated with anodal right-prefrontal and cathodal occipital tDCS (intensity: 2 mA, time: 20 min) three times per week for 4 weeks. All patients underwent a psychopathological assessment before and after treatment, and five of them were diagnosed with bipolar disorder (BD). After treatment, all the patients showed a significant decrease of severe and overall headache days per month. Despite having a higher migraine burden at baseline, patients with CM and BD showed a significantly greater reduction of severe headaches and psychiatric symptoms. Overall, tDCS seems to be effective in the treatment of CM patients with a poor response to different classes of pharmacological therapies, whereas BD status positively influences the response of migraineurs to tDCS.

Indexed as

bipolar disordercerebellar stimulationdorsolateral prefrontal cortex stimulationmigrainemigraine overuse headacheoccipital cortex stimulationtDCS

Identifiers

PMID34079513
PMCPMC8166222
OpenAlexW3163493080

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.