Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) for Multiple Sclerosis

"There is no single cause for MS. Many factors are believed to be involved in causing MS and its different stages. It is unknown exactly how the brain damage leads to MS. MS can run in families. A genetic defect has been found in some individuals with MS.\n" - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Results from a recent clinical trial suggests that early intervention to promote patient engagement or to facilitate coping strategies may be effective in reducing disability and increasing well being." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Most patients with MS have signs of fatigue or weakness. Numbness, muscle pain, or weakness in an extremity is more related to an early stage of the disease, whereas visual symptoms, cognition, and mental disturbances are related to a later stage of the illness, or to progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy. Optic nerves involvement is a common finding, since optic neuritis may occur early in the course of the disease with transient or prolonged courses of neurological deterioration before a more stable state is reached and clinical improvement occurs." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"MS is an autoimmune disease that affects many people of all countries. The diagnosis is based on the existence of one or more lesions on brain imaging. Typically a course of high-dose immunomodulating therapy, such as interferon beta or fingolimod, is used to halt progression and improve prognosis. Also for children, relapse is a common problem and treatment is similar to MS in adults. A number of monoclonal antibody therapies are approved for children. There are no vaccines available for people with MS. Also, there is an unknown cause of MS. summary: This article describes the causes of multiple sclerosis, the symptoms and treatments." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"around 43,300 adults in the United States are diagnosed with MS that year.MS is a neurological disorder in which the brain's white and gray matter, and the nerves that connect them, are damaged, leading to symptoms such as weakness or numbness in the limbs, and problems with coordination and movement. MS is a clinically and pathologically heterogeneous disorder with several types of disease manifestation. MS is not the result of infection. Most cases are unknown and called "MSsuspic[tion] syndrome". Many of these patients are considered to have "diagnostic uncertainty". In many cases MS is not diagnosed because the initial presentation of the disease is usually outside of the criteria for MS." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive neurological disease characterized by the degeneration of myelination in the central nervous system. As of 2015, no cure is known. The progressive loss of functional capacity leads to an increasingly disabling disease. Treatment of MS generally consists of pharmacologic or surgical measures intended to reduce its manifestations. A growing proportion of MS patients, approximately 10% at the time of diagnosis, develop clinically definite progressive disease in some time. These patients may respond to treatments whose primary purpose is to halt progressive disability." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"The current criteria for considering a trial have been developed from the expertise of the investigators and from the expertise of the patients. However, these trials represent only a fraction of those being conducted. Because the current criteria exclude more than three quarters of MS patients, investigators and patients should be encouraged to test in more tailored approaches criteria for considering clinical trials." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"tDCS may lead to beneficial results in MS, however, the mechanism by which tDCS exerts its therapeutic effects is not entirely understood. In addition, there is a continuing need to improve tDCS techniques for larger-scale clinical studies in MS. ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) Identifiers NCT00163548, NCT00526951, NCT00457724, and NCT00531510." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"Findings from a recent study, side effects from tDCS at 600 mA and with 400 pulses consisted of a transient sense of tingling over the head. These side effects were mostly mild and transient and were not clinically significant. In addition, the results did not suggest a relationship between side effects and stimulator output." - Anonymous Online Contributor

"TDCS has shown to produce promising results for treating spasticity and pain in MS. However, further study is needed to understand its effectiveness and safety in combination with other treatments in MS\n" - Anonymous Online Contributor

"There is now more information being published than at any other time. The research is going deeper into why the disease takes the way it does, and is beginning to offer options for the future treatment and the recovery.\n" - Anonymous Online Contributor

"The safety of this technology requires further evaluation in terms of possible long-term treatment side effects on vision, brain, cognitive functioning, fatigue, pain, mood and physical abilities, especially balance. There is ongoing participation in a multicenter trial of 20 patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) enrolled as outpatients, and two clinical trials aimed toward studying the impact of multiple sessions of transcranial direct current stimulation on fatigue, fatigue remission and brain atrophy." - Anonymous Online Contributor