ArticleFrontiers in neurology2022
Efficacy of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex in Patients With Minimally Conscious State.
Article in Frontiers in neurology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Biomarker use in predicting transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) response: a systematic scoping review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of transcranial direct current stimulation over dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Pooled it
- Cognitive and neurophysiological effects of bilateral tDCS neuromodulation in patients with minimally conscious state.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Transcranial direct current stimulation modulates primate brain dynamics across states of consciousness.eLife · 2025Article
- Combining HD-tDCS with music stimulation for patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness: Study protocol for an RCT trial.NeuroRehabilitation · 2024Article
- Dysfunctional connectivity as a neurophysiologic mechanism of disorders of consciousness: a systematic review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Effectiveness of coma arousal therapy on patients with disorders of consciousness - A systematic review and meta-analysis.Brain circulationReview
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
11 authors at 7 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundThe treatment of patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS) remains challenging. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive therapeutic method in treating neurologic diseases by regulating the cortical excitability. The aim is to investigate the effect of tDCS in patients with MCS in this study.
methodsEleven patients in MCS were enrolled in the study. All the patients received 5 daily sessions of 20-min sham tDCS, followed by 10 sessions of 20-min real tDCS. The anodal electrode and cathodal electrodes were placed over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the right eyebrow, respectively. Assessment of Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) scores and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) scans was conducted three times in each patient: before tDCS (baseline, T0), post-sham tDCS at week 1 (T1), and post-real tDCS at week 2 (T2). The whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) was obtained by bilaterally computing FC from six seed regions: precuneus, middle frontal gyrus, supplemental motor area, angular gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and occipital lobe. One-way repeated measure ANOVA was used to compare the differences of CRS-R scores and FC at T0, T1, and T2. The false discovery rate correction of
resultsFive patients with MCS showed obvious clinical improvement represented by increased CRS-R scores post- 2-week real tDCS. The CRS-R scores did not change post- 1-week sham treatment. No side effects were reported during the study. The FC of the bilateral supplementary motor area, right angular gyrus, and right superior temporal gyrus were significantly enhanced after 2-week real tDCS compared with that after 1-week sham-tDCS. In addition, FC of bilateral occipital lobe and right precuneus were significantly enhanced post- 2-week real tDCS compared with the baseline.
conclusionOur findings indicated that tDCS over DLPFC could serve as a potentially effective therapy for improving the consciousness state in patients with MCS. The FC in rs-fMRI can be modulated by tDCS at both the stimulation site (left DLPFC) and the distant regions.
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