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Table 4 RCTs for AD patients

From: Application of transcranial direct current stimulation to psychiatric disorders: trends and perspectives

Author, Year

N

Arms

tDCS protocol

Results

Boggio, 2012 (Boggio et al. 2012)

15*

tDCS Sham tDCS

5 sessions in a week, 2 mA, 30 min, 35 cm2 Anode: T3 and T4 Cathode: right deltoid muscle

Significant improvement of visual recognition memory but no significant effect on MMSE, ADAS-Cog, VAT

Cotelli, 2014 (Cotelli et al. 2014)

36

tDCS + ICMT sham tDCS + ICMT tDCS + motor training

10 sessions in 2 weeks, 2 mA, 25 min, 25cm2 Anode: F3 Cathode: right deltoid muscle

No significant improvement in memory except face-name association task

Khedr, 2014 (Khedr et al. 2014)

34

tDCS (Anodal F3 stimulation) tDCS (Cathodal F3 stimulation) sham tDCS

10 sessions in 2 weeks, 2 mA, 25 min, 24 / 100 cm2 Anode: F3 Cathode: right supraorbital region

Both anodal and cathodal stimulation showed more significant improvement in MMSE than sham. Reduction of P300 is also observed in tDCS.

Suemoto, 2014 (Suemoto et al. 2014)

40

tDCS sham tDCS

6 sessions in 2 weeks, 2 mA, 30 min, 35 cm2 Anode: F3Cathode: right orbit

No significant difference in Apathy, as well as ADAS-Cog and other cognitive tests

  1. ICMT: individual computerized memory training, MMSE: Mini-Mental State Examination, ADAS-Cog: Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale Cognitive Subscale, VAT: visual attention task
  2. *: crossover