Treatment of Awareness Deficits (ACESO): the Application of tDCS on Individuals with TBI and Stroke.

Research Objectives: The aim of this project was to improve self-awareness deficits in cases of moderate-to-severe Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) by combining conventional treatments (i.e., psychosocial treatment) with cutting-edge technologies (i.e., transcranial direct current stimulation, tDCS).

Design: Between group experimental design.

Setting: The study took place at the Centre for Applied Neuroscience, University of Cyprus. Participants were recruited from the Intensive Care Unit of the Nicosia General Hospital and the Melathron Agoniston EOKA.

Participants: The study included 13 individuals (female=1; age range=23-67 years) with ABI (traumatic brain injury=9; stroke=4). Group 1 received combined psychosocial and tDCS intervention. Group 2 received only the psychosocial intervention.

Interventions: Psychosocial intervention was conducted in 1.5hour group sessions for 11 weeks. tDCS was delivered in 10 consecutive sessions (in two weeks), for 20 minutes each time, using the tDCS device with current intensity at 1.75 mA via an anode (i.e., over DLPFC) and a cathode electrode (i.e., on the superior region of the obliquus capitis).

Main Outcome Measures: Participants underwent a neuropsychological and psychosocial assessment pre and post-intervention.

Results: Group comparisons showed a preliminary additive effect of tDCS intervention on the post-assessment battery. Most importantly, some participants mentioned increased episodic memory, euphoric sensation and improved thought coherence up to several hours post-tDCS.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that tDCS combined with conventional treatment could contribute towards an improved neuropsychological and psychosocial profile.

Author(s) Disclosures: There are no conflict of interests.