Efficacy of transcranial alternating current stimulation for schizophrenia treatment: A systematic review

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is an innovative noninvasive technique in brain stimulation that involves applying a low-intensity electrical current to the scalp. And increasing evidence has revealed its potential in schizophrenia treatment.

This systematic review aimed to evaluate the efficacy of tACS as a novel neurostimulation technique for improving cognitive impairment and alleviating psychotic symptoms in schizophrenia. Additionally, this review attempted to explore the impact of stimulation parameters on the effectiveness of tACS treatment.

A systematic literature search was conducted across five databases, including Web of Science, Embase, PubMed, CENTRAL, and PsycINFO, to identify studies investigating the use of tACS in schizophrenia. Only studies that involved the experimental use of tACS in patients with schizophrenia were included in this review.

Nineteen studies were included in this review. The most frequently used current intensities were 2 mA and 1 mA, and the most commonly used frequencies were alpha (10 Hz), theta (4.5 Hz and 6 Hz), and gamma (40 Hz). Some studies showed that tACS may have a potential therapeutic effect by improving cognitive functions in various cognitive domains and/or ameliorating negative symptoms, hallucinations, and delusions in patients with schizophrenia, while others showed no significant change. These studies also implicated that tACS treatment is safe and well tolerated.

Overall, this systematic review suggests that tACS has promise as a novel, effective, and adjunctive treatment approach for treating schizophrenia. Future research is needed to determine the optimal parameters of tACS for treating this complex disorder.