Brain Stimul
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Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an effective treatment extended broadly to many neurological and psychiatric disorders. Nevertheless, complications may arise during DBS procedures or following implantation due to implanted hardware. This may result in both minor and major adverse events that may necessitate hardware removal and/or compromise maximal therapeutic benefit for the patient. ⋯ Our analysis identified a variety of potential hardware-related complications among patients who underwent DBS procedures. Patients who were at risk of complications, such as patients with dystonia and off-label indications (e.g. Tourette's syndrome) should be informed prior to surgery and closely followed thereafter.
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Previous studies indicate that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) with anode over motor cortex (M1) and cathode over contralateral supraorbital region (SO) may be effective in reducing pain, but these studies are limited in number and have not focused on older adults with osteoarthritis (OA). ⋯ Although not consistent in all pain measurements, our findings demonstrate promising clinical efficacy for reduction in pain perception for older adults with knee OA.
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Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive, safe, and efficacious treatment for depression. TMS has been shown to normalize abnormal functional connectivity of cortico-cortical circuits in depression and baseline functional connectivity of these circuits predicts treatment response. Less is known about the relationship between functional connectivity of frontostriatal circuits and treatment response. ⋯ In an exploratory analysis, higher functional connectivity between the left DLPFC and striatum predicted better treatment response. Our findings suggest that the antidepressant mechanism of action of TMS may require connectivity from cortex proximal to the stimulation site to the striatum.
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Comparative Study
Cost-effectiveness of deep brain stimulation versus treatment as usual for obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is effective for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but requires expensive medical procedures. To date, no study has examined the cost-effectiveness of DBS for OCD. ⋯ This study indicates DBS for OCD is cost-effective in the long-term, especially when rechargeable batteries are taken into account.
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It is well known that transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is capable of modulating corticomotor excitability. However, a source of growing concern has been the observed inter- and intra-individual variability of tDCS-responses. Recent studies have assessed whether individuals respond in a predictable manner across repeated sessions of anodal tDCS (atDCS). The findings of these investigations have been inconsistent, and their methods have some limitations (i.e. lack of sham condition or testing only one tDCS intensity). ⋯ 2 mA anodal tDCS results in consistent intra- and inter-individual increases of M1 excitability.