Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) at different cortical targets on cognition in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): an exploratory analysis

Abstract

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) holds promise as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Patients with OCD show impairment in specific domains of cognitive flexibility and response inhibition. We previously reported that tDCS produced a positive clinical effect on OCD symptoms. Here, we report a secondary analysis of neurocognitive data. In this randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled, crossover, multicenter feasibility study, adults with a diagnosis of OCD according to the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) received three courses of clinic-based tDCS, targeting the left orbitofrontal cortex (L-OFC), bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), and sham, randomly allocated and delivered in counterbalanced order. Cognitive assessments were conducted before and 2-h after the first stimulation in each arm. Nineteen adults were recruited. tDCS of both the L-OFC and SMA significantly improved cognitive inflexibility, while sham treatment did not (paired-sample t test, baseline vs. 2-h after stimulation). No significant effect of tDCS was found for motor impulsivity (stop-signal reaction time) in any of the three arms. In a small sample of patients with OCD, a single administration of tDCS to the L-OFC and SMA produced a rapid improvement in cognitive inflexibility but not in motor impulsivity. A definitive randomized, controlled trial of tDCS targeting both the OFC and SMA, including cognitive markers, is indicated.

More information

Identifiers

Catalogue record

Export record

ASCII CitationAtomBibTeXData Cite XMLDublin CoreDublin CoreEP3 XMLEndNoteHTML CitationHTML CitationHTML ListJSONMETSMODSMPEG-21 DIDLOpenURL ContextObjectOpenURL ContextObject in SpanRDF+N-TriplesRDF+N3RDF+XMLRIOXX2 XMLReferReference ManagerSimple Metadata

Altmetrics