ArticleJournal of clinical medicine2021
Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Pilot Study on Efficacy, Feasibility, Safety, and Unexpected Outcomes in Tic Disorder and Epilepsy.
Article in Journal of clinical medicine, 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.
- Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation in children and young people with psychiatric disorders: a systematic review.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Interpersonal neural synchrony and mental disorders: unlocking potential pathways for clinical interventions.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Pooled it
- The efficacy and safety of third-generation antiseizure medications and non-invasive brain stimulation to treat refractory epilepsy: a systematic review and network meta-analysis study.Frontiers in neurology · 2023Pooled it
- Transcranial Pulsed Current Stimulation and Social Functioning in Children With Autism: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Low intensity transcranial electric stimulation: Safety, ethical, legal regulatory and application guidelines (2017-2025: An update) - endorsed by the European Society for Brain Stimulation (ESBS) and by the International Federation for Clinical Neurophysiology (IFCN).Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026Review
- QEEG-Guided rTMS in Pediatric ASD with Contextual Evidence on Home-Based tDCS: Within-Cohort Reanalysis and Narrative Contextualization.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Lateral Cerebellar Theta Burst Stimulation Can Modulate Default Mode Network Connectivity in Autistic Adults.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2025Article
- Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) in the Treatment of Youth Depression: Integrating Literature Review Insights in a Pilot Clinical Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- New Perspectives on Non-Invasive Cerebellar Stimulation for Social and Affective Functions in Children and Adolescents.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2025Review
- Understanding and targeting repetitive behaviors and restricted interests in autism spectrum disorder via high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation: a study-protocol.BMC psychiatry · 2025Article
- Cerebellar Neurostimulation for Boosting Social and Affective Functions: Implications for the Rehabilitation of Hereditary Ataxia Patients.Cerebellum (London, England) · 2024Review
- Understanding the role of AMPA receptors in autism: insights from circuit and synapse dysfunction.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Review
- The use of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques in autism spectrum disorder.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2024Article
- Neuroanatomical and functional correlates in tic disorders and Tourette's syndrome: A narrative review.Ibrain · 2024Review
- Cerebellar non-invasive stimulation of social and emotional mentalizing: A meta-analysis.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2024Article
- Exploring the Frontiers of Neuroimaging: A Review of Recent Advances in Understanding Brain Functioning and Disorders.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Recent advancements in noninvasive brain modulation for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.Neural regeneration research · 2023Review
- Social Brain Network of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Characterization of Functional Connectivity and Potential Association with Stereotyped Behavior.Brain sciences · 2023Article
- 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
11 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) display distinctive neurophysiological characteristics associated with significant cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to the frontal or temporoparietal lobes has demonstrated potential to reduce the severity of ASD-related symptoms. Recently, the cerebellum has been identified as a brain area involved in ASD pathophysiology. In this open-label pilot study, seven ASD patients aged between 9 and 13 years underwent 20 daily sessions of 20 min cathodal stimulation of the right cerebellar lobe. At the end of the treatment, the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) scores showed a 25% mean reduction in global severity of symptoms, with a more pronounced reduction in the "social withdrawal and lethargy" (-35%), "hyperactivity and noncompliance" (-26%), and "irritability, agitation, and crying" (-25%) subscales. Minor and no improvement were observed in the "stereotypic behavior" (-18%) and "inappropriate speech" (-0%) subscales, respectively. Improvements were not detected in the two patients who were taking psychotropic drugs during the study. Clinical response showed a symptom-specific time course. Quality of sleep and mood improved earlier than hyperactivity and social withdrawal. The treatment was generally accepted by patients and well tolerated. No serious adverse events were reported. Stimulation also appeared to markedly reduce the severity of tics in a patient with comorbid tic disorder and led to the disappearance of a frontal epileptogenic focus in another patient with a history of seizures. In conclusion, cerebellar tDCS is safe, feasible, and potentially effective in the treatment of ASD symptoms among children. Strategies to improve recruitment and retention are discussed.
Indexed as
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.