NCT03477799

The Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation on Decision Making and Cognitive Flexibility in Gambling Disorder

• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 3
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 20 (actual)
• Sponsor: Istanbul University · Academic / Other
• Sex: Male
• Age: 18 Years – 65 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The investigators conducted a double-blind randomised sham-controlled study. Upon enrollment into the study, participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: (i) active group: anodal stimulation over the right dlPFC (n = 10) or (ii) sham stimulation group (n = 10). Participants and raters were blinded to the condition. Subsequently, the participants were administered the IGT and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test by a trained neuropsychologist in a quiet laboratory. A computerized version of standard IGT was used. The order of the tasks performed in a single session was randomised. After the psychiatric and neurocognitive assessment, participants received three sessions of 20-minute active or sham anodal tDCS (once a day, every other day). Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and a modified version of Iowa Gambling Test were readministered after the last application. The order of the tasks was randomized again. A brief questionnaire on study blinding was also administered. Safety was assessed through open-ended questions based on the tDCS adverse events questionnaire

Conditions

• Gambling Disorder

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Transcranial direct current stimulation	Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a safe method for non-invasively modulating cortical excitability through the use of weak electrical currents (usually of 1-2 mA) circulating between two scalp electrodes (i.e., an anode and a cathode) placed over the target cortical regions. The effects of tDCS on brain activity are polarity-dependent, such that anodal stimulation generally enhances cortical excitability by depolarizing cell membranes and increasing neuronal firing rates, while cathodal stimulation generally results in the opposite effect. Because of its neural effects, tDCS has been increasingly used to gauge the functional relationship between cognitive/behavioural dimensions and putatively relevant neurocircuitry

Timeline

• Start date: 2017-03-29
• Primary completion: 2017-11-20
• Completion: 2017-11-20
• First posted: 2018-03-26
• Last updated: 2018-03-26

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Turkey (Türkiye)