66. Effects of cranio-spinal tDCS in the treatment of cognitive and motor symptoms in early Huntington’s Disease.

Transcutaneous Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a safe technique for modulating central nervous system excitability. We assessed clinical changes in early Huntington’s Disease (HD) following tDCS by evaluating Unified Huntington Disease Rating Scale (UHDRS). tDCS electrodes were applied over the thoracic spinal cord (T9–T11) and parietal cortex of right hemisphere, respectively as anode and cathode. We applied current at a density of 0.071 mA/cm 2 and delivered a total charge density of 85.7 mC/cm 2 . The stimulation consisted in a daily session of treatment during 5 days, of 20 min (2.0 mA) each one. The clinical evaluation was performed before tDCS (T0), after 5 days of treatment (T1) and after 2 weeks from the last session (T2). After tDCS a significant improvement both in motor (T0 vs. T1: 17 vs. 12) and behavioral scores was found (T0 vs. T1 vs. T2: 25 vs. 18 vs. 13). We showed significant effects of tDCS on motor and behavioral symptoms in early HD. The configuration we used likely reduces the abnormal peripheral afferent input, possibly restoring at the same time the balance of interhemispheric communication by interfering with right parietal hyperactivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]