Efficacy of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Combined with Conventional Swallowing Rehabilitation Training on Post-stroke Dysphagia.
Lingyan Wang, Aiqun Shi, Hui Xue and 6 others
PMID 37142734WHAT IT FOUND
Adding 1 mA tDCS to standard swallowing therapy improved swallowing scores more than standard therapy alone at 3 months.
However, both groups received extensive concurrent treatments, so the specific benefit of tDCS cannot be isolated from the rest of the care.
Key findings
01Patients receiving tDCS plus conventional therapy had lower (better) SSA and PAS scores at 3 months compared to those receiving conventional therapy alone.
02The tDCS group also showed better infection, oxygenation, and nutritional indicators after treatment compared to the conventional group.
03The study lacked a sham stimulation control, and assessors were not blinded, which limits confidence that tDCS specifically caused the improvements.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
Small sample size of 40 patients limits generalizability. No sham tDCS control group, so placebo effects cannot be ruled out. Assessors were not blinded, which may have biased the outcome measurements. Both groups received extensive conventional therapies, making it impossible to separate the effect of tDCS from the rest of the treatment. Follow-up was limited to 3 months, so long-term durability of effects is unknown.
Declared interests
Funded by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation Committee. No specific conflicts of interest declared in the text provided.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that tDCS is the active ingredient causing the improvement. Both groups received a complex bundle of conventional therapies, and the lack of a sham control means the observed benefits could be due to placebo or the intensity of the overall care rather than the brain stimulation itself.