title: Transcranial direct current stimulation in children and adolescents: a comprehensive review.
abstract: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation method that has shown promising results in various neuropsychiatric disorders in adults. This review addresses the therapeutic use of tDCS in children and adolescents including safety, ethical, and legal considerations. There are several studies addressing the dosage of tDCS in children and adolescents by computational modeling of electric fields in the pediatric brain. Results suggest halving the amperage used in adults to obtain the same peak electric fields, however, there are some studies reporting on the safe application of tDCS with standard adult parameters in children (2 mA; 20-30 min). There are several randomized placebo controlled trials suggesting beneficial effects of tDCS for the treatment of cerebral palsy. For dystonia there are mixed data. Some studies suggest efficacy of tDCS for the treatment of refractory epilepsy, and for the improvement of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder and autism. Interestingly, there is a lack of data for the treatment of childhood and adolescent psychiatric disorders, i.e., childhood onset schizophrenia and affective disorders. Overall, tDCS seems to be safe in pediatric population. More studies are needed to confirm the preliminary encouraging results; however, ethical deliberation has to be weighed carefully for every single case.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum der Universität München, Nußbaumstr. 7, 80336, Munich, Germany. ulrich.palm@med.uni-muenchen.de.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Palm
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum der Universität München, Nußbaumstr. 7, 80336, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Felix M
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: Segmiller
authors.affiliation: KBO Heckscher-Klinikum, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Ann Natascha
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Epple
authors.affiliation: KBO Heckscher-Klinikum, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Franz-Joseph
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Freisleder
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum der Universität München, Nußbaumstr. 7, 80336, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Koutsouleris
authors.affiliation: Department of Childhood and Adolescent Psychiatry, Klinikum der Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Gerd
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schulte-Körne
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Klinikum der Universität München, Nußbaumstr. 7, 80336, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Padberg
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D002648:Child; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006801:Humans; D065886:Neurodevelopmental Disorders / Q000628:therapy*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: ADHD; Cerebral palsy; Developmental disorder; Epilepsy; Ethics; Psychiatric disorder