AUTHOR=Charvet Leigh , George Allan , Charlson Erik , Lustberg Matthew , Vogel-Eyny Amy , Eilam-Stock Tehila , Cho Hyein , Best Pamela , Fernandez Luis , Datta Abhishek , Bikson Marom , Nazim Kamran , Pilloni Giuseppina 

TITLE=Home-administered transcranial direct current stimulation is a feasible intervention for depression: an observational cohort study

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1199773

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1199773

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<p>Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an emerging treatment for major depression. We recruited participants with moderate-to-severe major depressive episodes for an observational clinical trial using Soterix Medical's tDCS telehealth platform as a standard of care. The acute intervention consisted of 28 sessions (5 sessions/week, 6 weeks) of the left anodal dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) tDCS (2.0 mA × 30 min) followed by a tapering phase of weekly sessions for 4 weeks (weeks 7–10). The <italic>n</italic> = 16 completing participants had a significant reduction in depressive symptoms by week 2 of treatment [Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), <italic>Baseline</italic>: 28.00 ± 4.35 vs. <italic>Week 2:</italic> 17.12 ± 5.32, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001] with continual improvement across each biweekly timepoint. Acute intervention responder and remission rates were 75 and 63% and 88 and 81% following the taper period (week 10).</p>