Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2025
Randomized, Triple-Blind, and Parallel-Controlled Trial of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Cognitive Rehabilitation after Stroke
Published on: June 6, 2025
Long-term repetitive transcranial direct current stimulation in patients with disorders of consciousness: a
Xiao Rong Cheng1, Yi Bao Zhang1, Deng Juan Sun1
1Department of Rehabilitation, The Second Hospital of Lanzhou University, Lan Zhou, Gan Su Province, China.
Objectives:
To investigate the effects of long-term repetitive transcranial direct current stimulation on patients with DOC in the subacute phase.
Methods:
In a randomized, double-blind, controlled study, 33 patients were randomly assigned to the active or sham group, and 28 patients completed the study. Patients in the active group received anodal stimulation over the DLPFC, while patients in the sham group received placebo stimulation (20 min/day, 5 days/week, for 4 weeks). The level of consciousness among patients was assessed with the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) at baseline and at the end of every week from the first to the fourth week.
Results:
The CRS-R scores of both the active and sham groups showed a consistent increasing trend over time; however, the treatment effect of the active group was better than that of the sham group. In addition, there was a statistically significant difference in the total CRS-R score between the two groups at weeks 1, 2, 3 and 4. Moreover, 10 patients (71.4%) in the active group and 3 patients (21.4%) in the sham group were regarded as responders.
Conclusion:
Long-term tDCS could improve the level of consciousness of patients with DOC in the subacute stage.
