title: The effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Idiopathic Hypersomnia: a pilot study.
abstract: Idiopathic Hypersomnia (IH) is a rare sleep disorder characterised by excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) that leads to invalidating daytime consequences. Till now the treatment of IH has mirrored that of sleepiness in narcolepsy, and it is mainly focused on symptoms' management. We employed an anodal transcranic Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) treatment in order to induce a shift toward arousal in IH patients' cortex during the day. Every patients underwent a 4 weeks treatment (3 stimulations per week, for a total of 12 stimulations over a period of 28 days) with an assessment at the baseline and after treatment aimed to the evaluation of subjective daytime sleepiness, neurocognitive functions, and attentional domain tested by means of the Attentional Network Task (ANT). The dependent variables of the ANT are accuracy and reaction times, which represent the objective outcome of our study. A significant effect of tDCS' treatment in reducing EDS was found. Besides the amelioration in subjective EDS,  an objective improvement in RTs in all conditions of the ANT, in particular in the more difficult component, was observed. Our results indicate that tDCS may foster the management of EDS in IH, improving also the attentional domain.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Galbiati
authors.forename: Jubin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Abutalebi
authors.forename: Sandro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Iannaccone
authors.forename: Virginia Maria
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Borsa
authors.forename: Stela
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Musteata
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zucconi
authors.forename: Enrico
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Giora
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Neurology-Sleep Disorders Center, University San Raffaele and Scientific Institute San Raffaele, Milan, 20132 Milan, Italy; Email: ferinistrambi.luigi@hsr.it.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ferini-Strambi
mesh_terms: D006970:Disorders of Excessive Somnolence; D006801:Humans; D020177:Idiopathic Hypersomnia; D009290:Narcolepsy; D010865:Pilot Projects; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation