Citation

Trofimov AO, Kalentiev G, Karelsky M, Ksenofontova C, Ruzavina A, Yuriev M, Bragin DE. Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 2018; 1072: 59-62.

Affiliation

Department of Neurosurgery, University of New Mexico School of Medicine, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/978-3-319-91287-5_10

PMID

30178324

Abstract

In recent years, hopes for better treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) have focused on non-pharmacologic transcranial electrical brain stimulation; however, studies of perfusion changes after stimulation are few and contradictory. Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess cerebral perfusion after high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) in patients with posttraumatic encephalopathy (PTE).

METHODS: Twenty patients with PTE (16 men and 4 women, aged 35.5 ± 14.8 years) underwent perfusion computed tomography (PCT), followed by anodal HD-tDCS and post-stimulation tomography at 21 days after TBI. The Westermark perfusion maps were constructed and quantitative perfusion parameters calculated. Significance was preset to P < 0.05.

RESULTS: Qualitative analysis revealed that all patients had areas with reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF) and increased average mean transit time (MTT). HD-tDCS was accompanied by a significant decrease in the number of zones of both hypoperfusion and ischemia (p < 0.05). Quantitative analysis showed that, in all patients, HD-tDCS caused a significant increase in CBF (p < 0.001), cerebral blood volume (CBV) (p < 0.01) and MTT shortening (p < 0.05) in the frontotemporal region on the anode side. In the basal ganglia, a significant increase in CBF was found only in the five patients in whom this was initially reduced (p < 0.01) and only with an anode placed on the same side.

CONCLUSIONS: In patients with complications due to PTE TBI, HD-tDCS causes a significant increase in CBV, CBF and a decrease in the average MTT, suggesting better oxygen delivery to tissue.

Language: en