Twice daily electrical stimulation may boost mental processes in Alzheimer's disease

tDCS comes in the form of a device with two electrodes, placed over specific areas of a person’s head, which deliver a constant low intensity electrical current. It is starting to be used in many areas of medicine, including for the treatment of depression.

Some 140 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease from four different hospitals were randomly allocated to receive either 2 daily sessions of active (constant low intensity 1-2 mA current) or sham tDCS, for 5 days of the week for a maximum period of 6 weeks.

The results showed that after 2 weeks there was no change in either group, but compared with baseline, 30 daily 20-minute sessions of tDCS significantly improved the cognitive function of those in the tCDS group, particularly their word recall, recall of test instructions, and word recognition. No such improvements were seen in the sham group.

The results also showed that in people with Alzheimer’s disease cortical plasticity is impaired, but that this improved after 6 weeks of tDCS.

Reference: Twice daily electrical stimulation may boost mental processes in Alzheimer’s disease; BMJ General Psychiatry; DOI:10.1136/gpsych-2023-101166electrical stimulation,Alzheimer,Alzheimer disease,transcranial direct current stimulation,tdcs