title: Therapeutic Noninvasive Brain Stimulation in Alzheimer's Disease.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a looming public health crisis that currently lacks an effective treatment. Noninvasive Brain Stimulation (NBS), particularly transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), offers a promising alternative approach to pharmacological interventions for an increasing number of neurological and psychiatric conditions. The aim of this review is summarize data from therapeutic trials of NBS in AD and other dementing illnesses. Despite the potential of NBS, there is limited theoretical framework and a lack of guidelines for its applications to AD. Several published clinical trials failed to report key parameters of the interventions thus limiting the utility of the study to assess efficacy and safety. Our review concludes with some suggestions for future studies aimed to advance research into NBS as a potential treatment for the symptoms and disabilities caused by AD and to enable comparison of results across trials. Ultimately, appropriately powered, and controlled, multi-site randomized clinical trials will be needed to evaluate the therapeutic potential of NBS in AD.
authors.affiliation: Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Irene
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gonsalvez
authors.affiliation: Welcome Trust, MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge; Cambridge, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Roey
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baror
authors.affiliation: Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Division of Cognitive Neurology, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.affiliation: Brain Investigation & Neuromodulation Laboratory, University of Siena, Italy.
authors.forename: Emiliano
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Santarnecchi
authors.affiliation: Berenson-Allen Center for Noninvasive Brain Stimulation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave, Kirstein Hall KS 157, Boston, MA 02215, United States.
authors.forename: Alvaro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pascual-Leone
mesh_terms: D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D065908:Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation / Q000009:adverse effects
keywords: Alzheimer's disease; NBS.; TMS; dementia; noninvasive brain stimulation; tDCS; transcranial magnetic stimulation