The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on motor recovery in adult patients with stroke, taking into account the parameters that could influence the motor recovery responses. The second aim was to identify the best tDCS parameters and recommendations available, based on the enhanced motor recovery demonstrated by the analysed studies. Our systematic review has been performed by searching full-text articles published before February 18th, 2019 in the Pubmed database. Different methods of applying tDCS in association with several complementary therapies were identified. Studies investigating the motor recovery effects of tDCS in adult patients with stroke were considered. Those studies investigating different neurological conditions and psychiatric disorders, or those not meeting our methodological criteria were excluded. The main parameters and outcomes of tDCS treatments are reported. There is not a robust concordance among the study outcomes in regard to the enhancement of motor recovery associated with the clinical application of tDCS. This is mainly due to the heterogeneity of clinical data, tDCS approaches, combined interventions and outcomes measurements. tDCS could be an effective approach to promote adaptive plasticity in the stroke population with significant positive pre- and post-motor rehabilitation effects. Future studies with larger sample sizes and high-quality studies with a better standardization of stimulation protocols are needed to improve study quality are needed to further corroborate our results and to identify the optimal tDCS protocols.
Motor Stroke Recovery After tDCS: a systematic Review
Graziella Orrù
Primo
;Ciro ConversanoSecondo
;Paul Kenneth Hitchcott;Angelo GemignaniUltimo
2019-01-01
Abstract
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on motor recovery in adult patients with stroke, taking into account the parameters that could influence the motor recovery responses. The second aim was to identify the best tDCS parameters and recommendations available, based on the enhanced motor recovery demonstrated by the analysed studies. Our systematic review has been performed by searching full-text articles published before February 18th, 2019 in the Pubmed database. Different methods of applying tDCS in association with several complementary therapies were identified. Studies investigating the motor recovery effects of tDCS in adult patients with stroke were considered. Those studies investigating different neurological conditions and psychiatric disorders, or those not meeting our methodological criteria were excluded. The main parameters and outcomes of tDCS treatments are reported. There is not a robust concordance among the study outcomes in regard to the enhancement of motor recovery associated with the clinical application of tDCS. This is mainly due to the heterogeneity of clinical data, tDCS approaches, combined interventions and outcomes measurements. tDCS could be an effective approach to promote adaptive plasticity in the stroke population with significant positive pre- and post-motor rehabilitation effects. Future studies with larger sample sizes and high-quality studies with a better standardization of stimulation protocols are needed to improve study quality are needed to further corroborate our results and to identify the optimal tDCS protocols.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
