Effectiveness of cathodal tDCS of the primary motor or sensory cortex in migraine: A randomized controlled trial

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a new technology that is extensively used for migraine treatment. The present study aims to examine the effectiveness of cathodal-tDCS (c-tDCS) in decreasing migraine pain frequency, duration, and intensity at the right primary motor cortex (M₁) or sensory cortex (S₁) in individuals with episodic or chronic migraine.

The present study has a randomized, single-blind, and sham-controlled design. It tests the effectiveness of 22 sessions of c-tDCS (20min/1000 μA) in 45 migraine patients (episodic = 35; chronic = 10/with aura = 28; without aura = 17). Spread over 10 consecutive weeks, the sessions started with three sessions per week and ended with one session per week. Participants were tested at the baseline, at the end of intervention, and at 12-month follow-up. The migraine diagnosis was based on criteria set by International Headache Society (IHS) and patients were allocated to two experimental (n_m1 = 15; n_s1 = 15) and a sham intervention group (n_c = 15).

The results of a series of MANCOVAs showed a significant reduction (p < 0.05) in all hypothesized symptoms of migraine pain in both experimental groups compared to the sham intervention group at the posttest and follow-up.

The application of c-tDCS to M₁ or S₁ can be used as a technological intervention for the prophylactic and therapeutic treatment of episodic or chronic migraine.

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