Brain Stimul
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Long-term measurement of impedance in chronically implanted depth and subdural electrodes during responsive neurostimulation in humans.
Long-term stability of the electrode-tissue interface may be required to maintain optimal neural recording with subdural and deep brain implants and to permit appropriate delivery of neuromodulation therapy. Although short-term changes in impedance at the electrode-tissue interface are known to occur, long-term changes in impedance have not previously been examined in detail in humans. To provide further information about short- and long-term impedance changes in chronically implanted electrodes, a dataset from 191 persons with medically intractable epilepsy participating in a trial of an investigational responsive neurostimulation device (the RNS(®) System, NeuroPace, Inc.) was reviewed. ⋯ Although there were statistically significant short-term impedance changes, long-term impedance was stable after one year. Impedances for depth electrodes transiently increased during the third week after lead implantation and impedances for subdural electrodes increased over 12 weeks post-implant, then were stable over the subsequent long-term follow-up. Both depth and subdural electrode impedances demonstrated long-term stability, suggesting that the quality of long-term electrographic recordings (the data used to control responsive brain stimulation) can be maintained over time.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effect of two weeks of rTMS on brain activity in healthy subjects during an n-back task: a randomized double blind study.
Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has shown significant efficiency in the treatment of several psychiatric disorders. In depressive disorders, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is the main target for rTMS, but the effects of this stimulation on cognitive functions and their neural correlates are not well known. Previous works have established that the left DLPFC is reliably activated during the n-back working memory task. ⋯ These results show that rTMS applied on the left DLPFC had close and remote effects on brain areas involved in working memory.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Transcranial direct current stimulation ameliorates tactile sensory deficit in multiple sclerosis.
Deficit of tactile sensation in patients with MS is frequent and can be associated with interference with daily life activities. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) showed to increase tactile discrimination in healthy subjects. ⋯ Our results indicate that a five day course of anodal tDCS is able to ameliorate tactile sensory loss with long-lasting beneficial effects and could thus represent a therapeutic tool for the treatment of tactile sensory deficit in MS patients.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Pharyngeal electrical stimulation for dysphagia associated with multiple sclerosis: a pilot study.
Treatment options for dysphagia associated with multiple sclerosis (MS) are currently limited. In this study we investigated whether intraluminal electrical pharyngeal stimulation facilitates swallowing recovery in dysphagic MS patients. ⋯ No specific treatment for oro-pharyngeal dysphagia related to MS has been described to date. Our preliminary findings suggest a potential benefit of intraluminal electrical pharyngeal stimulation for the treatment of dysphagia caused by MS.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The effect of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation on pain perception--an experimental study.
Recent preclinical work strongly suggests that vagus nerve stimulation efficiently modulates nociception and pain processing in humans. Most recently, a medical device has offered a transcutaneous electrical stimulation of the auricular branch of the vagus nerve (t-VNS) without any surgery. ⋯ Our findings of a reduced sensitivity of mechanically evoked pain and an inhibition of temporal summation of noxious tonic heat in healthy volunteers may pave the way for future studies on patients with chronic pain addressing the potential analgesic effects of t-VNS under clinical conditions.