Supplemental material from: Can transcranial direct current stimulation enhance post-stroke motor recovery? Development of a theoretical patient-tailored model

New treatments that can facilitate neural repair and reduce persistent impairments have significant value in promoting recovery following stroke. One technique that has gained interest is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as early research suggested it could enhance plasticity and enable greater behavioral recovery. However, several studies have now identified substantial inter-subject variability in response to tDCS and clinical trials revealed insufficient evidence of treatment effectiveness. A possible explanation for the varied and negative findings is that the physiological model of stroke recovery that researchers have used to guide the application of tDCS based treatments in stroke is overly simplistic and does not account for stroke heterogeneity or known determinants that affect the tDCS response. Here, we propose that tDCS could have a more clearly beneficial role in enhancing stroke recovery if greater consideration is given to individualizing treatment. By criti...

能够促进神经修复并减轻持续性功能障碍的新型治疗手段，对卒中后康复具有重要价值。经颅直流电刺激（transcranial direct current stimulation, tDCS）是近年来受到关注的技术之一，早期研究显示其可增强神经可塑性，促进更显著的行为功能恢复。然而，后续多项研究发现受试者对tDCS的响应存在显著个体间差异，且临床试验未能提供足够证据证实该治疗的有效性。针对这些不一致乃至负面的研究结果，一种可能的解释是：研究人员用于指导卒中后tDCS治疗的卒中康复生理学模型过于简化，未考虑卒中的异质性，以及影响tDCS响应的已知决定因素。本研究提出，若能更多地关注治疗方案的个体化定制，tDCS在改善卒中康复方面或将展现出更为明确的有益作用。By criti...