부산대학교 도서관

Objective: Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulation method used in research to suppress epileptic seizures. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of cathodal tDCS on cognitive functions, mood and sleepiness in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. The preliminary findings of our research are presented below. Methods: Our research is a randomized double-blind parallel controlled clinical trial. 10 patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy participated in the research (7 in active and 3 in sham group). Cathodal tDCS was applied for 30 minutes at 2 mA, over the seizure focus, for five consecutive days while the anode being on the contralateral deltoid muscle. In the sham stimulation, tDCS with the same electrode montage, ceased at the end of 1st minute. Patients completed The Depression Anxiety Stress-21 and Epworth Sleepiness Scales before the first tDCS and one week after the last tDCS. Changes in all test scores were evaluated between the active and sham groups using repeated measures ANOVA. Baseline scores between groups were compared with the independent sample t-test. Results: There was a decrease in the mean scores of anxiety, stress and sleepiness at the end of the 1st week after the tDCS in both groups. However, the conducted statistical analyses did not show a significant difference between these two groups. Conclusion: The decrease in the averages of anxiety, stress, and sleepiness scores at the end of first week in both groups can be interpreted as a change independent of active current application. Since the patient recruitment is still ongoing, more reliable results may be obtained with higher number of participants. Our findings did not demonstrate a modulatory effect of tDCS on depression, anxiety, stress and sleepiness in epilepsy patients yet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]