MDS 2021 | Non-invasive brain stimulation to treat non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease

Rubens Gisbert Cury, MD, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil outlines the two main techniques used for non-invasive brain stimulation – transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) – and their use in treating non-motor symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Several clinical trials have investigated the use of tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to treat non-motor PD symptoms. Dr Cury discusses the outcome of these trials, explaining that patients saw improvements in frontal symptoms such as attention span and reaction time upon treatment, as well as improvements in their Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) score. He also discusses the effects of TMS and tDCS on depression in both patients with and without PD. The studies however have shown the effect size of these improvements to be small, and so further study needs to be conducted on how the effect of treatment can be improved. This interview took place during the 2021 International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders.