STUDY PROTOCOL article
Front. Med.
Sec. Intensive Care Medicine and Anesthesiology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1558376
This article is part of the Research TopicTranscranial Electrical Stimulation (tACS, tDCS, tRNS) in Basic and Clinical Neuroscience: Current Progress and Future DirectionsView all 7 articles
Effect of transcranial direct current stimulation on postoperative delirium in elderly patients undergoing hip fracture surgery: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial
Provisionally accepted
- 1Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
- 2Shanxi Traditional Chinese Medical Hospital, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
- 3Department of Anesthesiology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Wuhan, Hebei Province, China
- 4Shanxi Provincial People's Hospital, Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, China
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Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in reducing the incidence of postoperative delirium (POD) in elderly patients undergoing hip fracture surgery.Methods and Analysis: This single-center, double-blind, randomized controlled trial will enroll 160 participants aged 65 years and older, scheduled for elective hip surgery under spinal anesthesia. Participants will be randomly assigned to either the active-tDCS group or the sham-tDCS group. The active-tDCS group will receive two sessions: one pre-surgery and one postsurgery, with electrodes positioned over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the right supraorbital area. Each session includes 15-second ramp-up phase at the start, 20 minutes simulation with 2 mA current and 15-second ramp-down phase at the end. The sham-tDCS group will receive two sham procedures with no actual current delivered. Functional brain activity will be monitored before and after each session or sham procedure to assess changes in cortical activation and connectivity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). The primary outcome measure will be the incidence of POD, assessed using the 3-Minute Diagnostic Interview for Confusion Assessment Method (3D-CAM). Secondary outcomes include the severity of delirium, postoperative pain, anxiety, depression, cognitive function, and sleep quality.Trial Registration: The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT06678529) on Oct 22, 2024.
Keywords: Hip fracture, postoperative delirium, transcranial direct current stimulation, Quality of recovery, Clinical Protocols
Received: 10 Jan 2025; Accepted: 14 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Xue, Haijie, Fan, Zhang, Fang, Zheng and Tian. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Lichao Xue, Shanxi Bethune Hospital, Shanxi Medical University, Taiyuan, China
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