1. Transcranial direct current stimulation: A novel approach in the treatment of vascular depression
- Author
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Dario Prestifilippo, Sara Poletti, Raffaella Zanardi, Cristina Colombo, Francesco Attanasio, and Barbara Barbini
- Subjects
Male ,medicine.medical_specialty ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Biophysics ,Antidepressant ,Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation ,tDCS ,050105 experimental psychology ,lcsh:RC321-571 ,law.invention ,03 medical and health sciences ,Cognition ,0302 clinical medicine ,Double-Blind Method ,Randomized controlled trial ,Rating scale ,law ,medicine ,Humans ,Dementia ,0501 psychology and cognitive sciences ,Vascular Diseases ,lcsh:Neurosciences. Biological psychiatry. Neuropsychiatry ,Depression (differential diagnoses) ,Aged ,Psychiatric Status Rating Scales ,Sertraline ,Transcranial direct-current stimulation ,Depression ,business.industry ,General Neuroscience ,05 social sciences ,medicine.disease ,Combined Modality Therapy ,Antidepressive Agents ,Cognitive functions ,Vascular depression ,Treatment Outcome ,Physical therapy ,Female ,Neurology (clinical) ,business ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,Follow-Up Studies ,medicine.drug - Abstract
Background: Despite the impact of depression in terms of personal suffering and socioeconomic burden, most currently available treatment options are often ineffective. A particularly difficult-to-treat depressive disorder characteristic of the elderly is vascular depression, a late-life depressive syndrome related to a variety of potential vascular mechanisms. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive and effective somatic approach to depression, also showed positive effects on cognitive deficits. Aim: We performed a double-blind randomized study to investigate the efficacy of tDCS as augmentation strategy to sertraline in the treatment of vascular depression, hypothesizing a positive effect in both depressive symptoms and cognitive functions. Methods: We enrolled 93 inpatients over 60 years of age with a diagnosis of vascular depression. Depressive symptoms were weekly assessed (T0, T1, T2) with the 21-items Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS). Cognitive functioning was evaluated with the Milan Overall Dementia Assessment (MODA) at baseline and after the treatment protocol. All patients were randomly assigned into three groups, Group I: one tDCS stimulation per day, Group II: two tDCS stimulations per day, Sham group: one sham tDCS stimulation per day. Stimulation was performed for 10 consecutive working days. Results: A significant interaction time∗treatment was observed on HDRS scores (F = 14, p
- Published
- 2020