HD-tDCS in refractory lateral frontal lobe epilepsy patients.
PURPOSE
To evaluate the anticonvulsant effect of the novel high definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) method on patients with refractory lateral frontal lobe epilepsy. The effects of HD-tDCS on working memory were also examined.


METHOD
10 adult patients with intractable lateral frontal lobe epilepsy were studied. A central cathode electrode was placed on the epileptogenic zone according to LTM, and 20-min sessions of 2mA HD-tDCS were applied for 10 consecutive days. The primary endpoint was to make changes in the epileptiform discharges (EDs) during a 1-h EEG. Moreover, the seizure frequency based on seizure diary and neuropsychiatric parameters was evaluated.


RESULTS
All patients tolerated HD-tDCS stimulation course without any adverse reaction. The frequency of EDs increased immediately and one month after the stimulation course by an average of 6.4% and 1.2%, respectively. However, these changes in the EDs frequency were not statistically significant (p-value >0.05). The mean seizure frequency changes showed decrement by an average of 17.9% immediately, and increment by an average of 38.1% one month after the HD-tDCS. These changes were not significant statistically (p-value >0.05). One patient experienced exacerbation of seizures during the stimulations hence dropped out of the study. Attention and working memory improved significantly immediately and one month after the HD-tDCS in all patients.


CONCLUSION
Changes of EDs and mean seizure frequency caused by HD-tDCS were not statistically significant for the whole group; however, this method could improve the patients' working memory scores.
['Karvigh|Sanaz Ahmadi|SA|', 'Motamedi|Mahmoud|M|', 'Arzani|Mahsa|M|', 'Roshan|Javad Hasan Nia|JH|']
D000328:Adult D000069279:Drug Resistant Epilepsy D004569:Electroencephalography D017034:Epilepsy, Frontal Lobe D005260:Female D005625:Frontal Lobe D007839:Functional Laterality D006801:Humans D008297:Male D008499:Medical Records D008570:Memory, Short-Term D009483:Neuropsychological Tests D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation D016896:Treatment Outcome D055815:Young Adult
HD-tDCS Lateral frontal lobe epilepsy Working memory Intractable epilepsy