Spinal cord stimulation modulates frontal delta and gamma in patients of minimally consciousness state.
Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) has been suggested as a therapeutic technique for treating patients with disorder of consciousness (DOC). Although studies have reported its benefits for patients, the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms remain unclear. The aim of this study was to measure the effects of SCS on the EEG of patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS), which would allow us to explore the possible workings underpinning of the approach. Resting state EEG was recorded before and immediately after SCS, using various frequencies (5Hz, 20Hz, 50Hz, 70Hz and 100Hz), for 11 patients in MCS. Relative power, coherence, S-estimator and bicoherence were calculated to assess the EEG changes. Five frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha, beta and gamma) and three regions (frontal, central and posterior) were divided in the calculation. The main findings of this study were that: (1) significantly altered relative power and synchronisation was found in delta and gamma bands after one SCS stimulation using 5Hz, 70Hz or 100Hz; (2) bicoherence showed that coupling within delta was significantly decreased after stimulation using 70Hz, while reduction of coupling between delta and gamma was found when using 5Hz and 100Hz. However, SCS of 20Hz, 50Hz and sham stimulation did not induce changes in any frequency band at any region. This study showed EEG evidence that SCS can modulate the brain function of MCS patients, speculatively by activating the formation-thalamus-cortex network.
Institute of Electrical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China.
Yang
Y
Bai
Department of Neurosurgery, PLA Army General Hospital, Beijing 100700, China; Department of Biomedical Engineering, Medical School, Tsinghua University, China.
Xiaoyu
X
Xia
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning & IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
Xiaoli
X
Li
Institute of Electrical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China.
Yong
Y
Wang
Department of Neurosurgery, PLA Army General Hospital, Beijing 100700, China.
Yi
Y
Yang
Department of Neurology, the 451st Hospital of PLA, China.
Yangfeng
Y
Liu
Institute of Electrical Engineering, Yanshan University, Qinhuangdao 066004, China. Electronic address: zhl@ysu.edu.cn.
Zhenhu
Z
Liang
Department of Neurosurgery, PLA Army General Hospital, Beijing 100700, China. Electronic address: he_jianghong@sina.cn.
Jianghong
J
He
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003700:Delta Rhythm; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D065818:Gamma Rhythm; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018458:Persistent Vegetative State / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D062187:Spinal Cord Stimulation; D055815:Young Adult
EEG; bicoherence; coherence; frontal; minimally conscious state; spinal cord stimulation