Dr. Saurabh Kumar
MBBS, M.D. (Psychiatry) 15 years experience overall Psychiatrist , Neuropsychiatrist , Sexologist
Effect of Targeted Prefrontal Cortex Modulation with Bilateral Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (Tdcs) in Reducing Craving in Patients with Opioid Dependence: a Case Controlled Trial
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Abstract
Background: Auditory hallucination is a major symptom in schizophreniaoften resistant to psycho-pharmacological treatments leading to distressand suicidal risks in patients. With decreasing popularity of Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), non-invasive techniques like transcranial DirectCurrent stimulation (tDCS) would offer more options to the treating psy-chiatrist and to the patient for the symptom management in schizophrenia.
Aim: To explore the effectiveness of tDCS as an add-on treatment forpersistent auditory hallucinations in individuals with schizophrenia.
Materials and Methods: The study was conducted at an outpatientdepartment of a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Chennai. We recruited 93subjects diagnosed as having schizophrenia as per DSM-5 and havingpersistent auditory verbal hallucinations in the study. Subjects wereadministered tDCS continuously for 5 days in accordance with establishedprotocol. They were assessed for auditory hallucination and psychopa-thology using PSYRATS-AH and PANSS at baseline, end of day 5, end of onemonth post tDCS. 82 were followed-up for a period of one month and datawere analyzed using appropriate statistical tests.
Results: In the 82 subjects follow-up, males were 38 (46.3%) and femaleswere 44 (53.7%). The mean age of the study subjects was 35.3±9.7 (years).The mean duration of untreated psychosis was 10.4±10.8 (months). Astatistically signiï¬cant difference was observed between PSYRATS-AHscores at baseline (28.2±6.1) and post tDCS at the end of ï¬ve days(22.6±6.6) and one month (23.3±5.8) (F ¼123.4; P<0.001). The mostcommon side-effect experienced during tDCS was skin irritation (10.9%).The drop-out rate was 11.8% and the most common reason was headachepost tDCS (81.1%).
Conclusion: Results indicate that tDCS is generally accepted by the studysubjects with less dropout rate with signiï¬cant improvement in persistentauditory hallucinations when provided as an add-on treatment inschizophrenia.
Keywords: Schizophrenia, tDCS, Auditory hallucination, Effectiveness
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