The effects of tDCS in PDOC; feasibility study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The neural, behavioural, and clinical effects of transcranial direct current stimulation in patients with a prolonged disorder of consciousness; feasibility study
IRAS ID
233074
Contact name
Davinia Fernández Espejo
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Birmingham
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Recent improvements in the provision of intensive care have increased the chances of surviving the most severe brain injuries. Many of these patients progress to a state in which awareness and external responsiveness are either absent (i.e., the vegetative state) or greatly reduced (i.e., the minimally conscious state). It is now known that some of these patients retain a much higher level of awareness than could be expected by their clinical diagnoses, but they are simply unable to show it with their behaviours - trapped in their unresponsive bodies. Recently, my own research has provided an explanation for what happens in the brain to cause this unresponsive behaviour. Specifically, I identified a partial disruption in the flow of information between two brain regions that need to work together to allow for the voluntary control of movement, suggesting for the first time a potential target for interventions to restore motor control to those patients who, despite their diagnoses, retain a level of awareness.
This project is aimed at testing the feasibility of a larger study that will aim to assess the potential for a non-invasive form of electrical brain stimulation, known as transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), to modulate the activity of the brain regions that control movement, and increase motor responsiveness as a result. In the proposed study, patients in a vegetative and a minimally conscious state will receive tDCS, over different target regions and with different parameters, while their neural activity is recorded with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). By combining tDCS with fMRI, and using advanced analysis methods, we will be able to characterize the changes that occur in the relationships between the different regions in the motor network as a result of stimulation. The outcomes of this research will inform a larger study with the final goal of developing effective and available interventions to increase responsiveness in the vegetative and the minimally conscious states.REC name
West Midlands - Coventry & Warwickshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/WM/0180
Date of REC Opinion
29 Jul 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion