TITLE:
Safety of Transcranial Direct Current Electrical Stimulation in Dermatomyositis: A Case Report
AUTHORS:
Rafael Giovani Missé, Luiz Felipe Adsuara de Sousa, Lucas de Macedo dos Santos, Abrahão Fontes Baptista, Clarice Tanaka, Julia Maria D’Andréa Greve, Samuel Katsuyuki Shinjo
KEYWORDS:
Dermatomyositis, Neuromodulation, Safety, Systemic Autoimmune Myopathies
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Rheumatology and Autoimmune Diseases,
Vol.10 No.2,
May
29,
2020
ABSTRACT: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has emerged as a nonpharmacological tool in physical rehabilitation. There have currently no studies that evaluated the safety and efficacy of tDCS in patients with dermatomyositis. Case-report: Three adult women with dermatomyositis were allocated randomly to intervention (i-tDCS, one patient) or not (sham-tDCS, two patients) of three consecutive days of tDCS and evaluated in four periods: before-tDCS (PRE), 15 minutes after-tDCS (0th POST), 15 days after-tDCS (15th POST), and 30 days after-tDCS (30th POST). The tDCS was safe throughout the protocol, without disease relapsing or adverse effects related to tDCS. Furthermore, the tDCS increased the muscle torque and total work of dominant and non-dominant elbow flexors in the patient with i-tDCS, when compared to two patients with sham-tDCS. Conclusions: The tDCS was safe and appeared to influence long-term strength in the limb of the patient with stable dermatomyo-sitis.