Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Spinocerebellar Ataxia 38

University of Cagliari

Status: Completed

Conditions: Spinocerebellar Ataxias

Treatments: Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05951010

tDCS-ATX

Details and patient eligibility

About

Spinocerebellar ataxia 38 (SCA 38) is a very rare autosomal dominant inherited disorder caused by a mutation in ELOV5 gene, specifically expressed in cerebellar Purkinje cells, encoding an enzyme involved in the synthesis of fatty acids. The present study aimed to assess the effect of cerebellar anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) administered employing deltoid (CD-tDCS) and spinal (CS-tDCS) cathodal montage. Clinical evaluation was performed at baseline (T0), after 15 sessions of tDCS (T1) and after one month of follow-up (T2).

Enrollment: 7 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 80 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

1. age ≤ 80 and > 18 years
2. diagnosis of SCA 38 with the presence of clinical symptoms.

Exclusion criteria

1. Inability to understand and sign the informed consent
2. Presence of other severe neurological disorders
3. presence of significant medical or psychiatric illnesses
4. Pregnancy.

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Non-Randomized

Interventional model: Crossover Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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7 participants in 1 patient group

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Experimental group

Description:

Participants underwent anodal stimulation delivered by a battery-driven stimulator (Neuroelectrics, Barcellona, Spain) through a pair of saline-soaked surface sponge electrodes (7 x 5 cm2) producing a constant current of 2 mA for 20 min.

Treatment:

Device: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation