Cortico-Spinal tDCS as Rehabilitative Intervention in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a motor neuron disease, which is a group of neurological disorders that selectively affect motor neurons, the cells that control voluntary muscles of the body. The disorder causes muscle weakness and atrophy throughout the body due to the degeneration of the upper and lower motor neurons. Current drugs approved for ALS treatment only modestly slow disease progression. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique, which has been demonstrated to modulate cerebral excitability in several neurodegenerative disorders and modulate intracortical connectivity measures. In this randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study followed by an open-label phase, the investigators will evaluate whether a repetition of two-weeks' treatment with bilateral motor cortex anodal tDCS and spinal cathodal tDCS, after a six months interval, may further outlast clinical improvement in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and can modulate intracortical connectivity, at short and long term.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a motor neuron disease, which is a group of neurological disorders that selectively affect motor neurons, the cells that control voluntary muscles of the body. The disorder causes muscle weakness and atrophy throughout the body due to the degeneration of the upper and lower motor neurons. Current drugs approved for ALS treatment only modestly slow disease progression. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique, which has been demonstrated to modulate cerebral excitability in several neurodegenerative disorders and modulate intracortical connectivity measures. The present randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study followed by an open-label phase will investigate a repetition of two-weeks' treatment with bilateral motor cortex anodal tDCS and spinal cathodal tDCS, after a six months interval, may further outlast clinical improvement in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and modulate intracortical connectivity, at short and long term.