The Therapeutic Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Depression in Parkinson's Disease
Status:
Terminated
Trial end date:
2021-08-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common neurological diseases manifested by
movement disturbance. The concomitant psychiatric symptoms, especially depression, are often
observed and have also great impact on patients' quality of life. The treatment of depressive
symptoms in PD with antidepressants as the majority remains variable and inefficient, which
complicates the disease prognosis. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a
non-invasive brain modulation technique and has been demonstrated to improve psychiatric
diseases such as major depression. In this study the investigators will assess the combined
effects of tDCS on sertraline for the treatment of depression in PD. Ten sessions of tDCS in
two weeks will be applied and the follow-up evaluation will continue bi-weekly for one month
after completing all sessions. The efficacy of tDCS vs sertraline will be compared and
evaluated with behavioral and cognitive outcome. In addition, the investigators will evaluate
if the baseline dopaminergic activity in brain could predict the treatment outcome by using
SPECT imaging. The investigators aim to establish the therapeutic parameters and safety
criteria of tDCS as an add-on or alternative therapy, and further enhance the overall
clinical efficacy in the treatment of depression in PD.