Effectiveness of atDCS versus ctDCS on hand function in stroke- A Systematic Review

Stroke is the leading cause of long-term disability among adults in industrialized countries. More than 60% of Stroke survivors suffer from persistent neurological deficits that impair their activities of daily living (i.e. dressing, eating, self-care and personal hygiene). This present systematic review is aimed to explore the literature-related to studies conducted on patients with Stroke concerning of specific study design, recovery stage of patient, patient distribution in the study, intensity of current used in treatment, duration of treatment intervention, frequency of treatment intervention, outcome measures used in the study, mechanism of improvement and conclusion. Methodology: PubMed databases were searched to identify eligible studies using the keywords Cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation, stroke and hand function. Only Randomized Clinical trial published in the last 10 years (2013-2023) were included in this review. Results: Eight studies were included in the review conducted on the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on hand function in stroke patients. All studies investigated Functional recovery over a longer period using different outcome measures like Action Research Arm Test, Fugl-Meyer assessment scale, 9hole pegboard test with different follow-up times from 1day to 2 weeks It was found that there was significant improvement in tDCS group in most of the studies. Conclusion: This review concludes that in 2 out of 8 randomized clinical trial anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (atDCS) showed more improvement than other groups and 5 out of 8 studies conclude that cathodal transcranial direct current stimulation (ctDCS) is more effective than other group.