title: Transcranial direct current stimulation improves swallowing function in stroke patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Poststroke dysphagia can persist, leading to many complications.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  We investigated whether noninvasive brain stimulation to the pharyngeal motor cortex combined with intensive swallowing therapy can improve dysphagia.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 20 patients who had dysphagia for at least 1 month after stroke were randomly assigned to receive 10 sessions lasting 20 minutes each of either 1-mA anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) or a sham procedure to the ipsilesional pharyngeal motor cortex, along with simultaneous conventional swallowing therapies. We evaluated swallowing function with the dysphagia outcome and severity scale (DOSS) before, immediately after, and 1 month after the last session.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Anodal tDCS resulted in an improvement of 1.4 points in DOSS (P = .006) immediately after the last session and 2.8 points (P = .004) 1 month after the last session. The sham tDCS group improved 0.5 points (P = .059) after the last session and 1.2 points (P = .026) 1 month after the final session. The improvements in the anodal tDCS group were significantly greater than those in the sham tDCS group (P = .029 after the last session, and P = .007 1 month after the last session).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Anodal tDCS to the ipsilesional hemisphere and simultaneous peripheral sensorimotor activities significantly improved swallowing function as assessed by the DOSS.
authors: Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Hamamatsu City Rehabilitation Hospital, Shizuoka, Japan. shige1206jp@gmail.com
authors: Takashi
authors: T
authors: Shigematsu
authors: Ichiro
authors: I
authors: Fujishima
authors: Kikuo
authors: K
authors: Ohno
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D003679:Deglutition / Q000502:physiology*; D003680:Deglutition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000628:therapy; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009044:Motor Cortex / Q000502:physiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D020521:Stroke / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D016896:Treatment Outcome