Tolerability of transcranial direct current stimulation in childhood-onset schizophrenia

Background In recent years, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been used to study and treat many neuropsychiatric conditions. However, information regarding its tolerability in the pediatric population is lacking. Objective This study aims to investigate the tolerability aspects of tDCS in the childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) population. Methods Twelve participants with COS completed this inpatient study. Participants were assigned to one of two groups: bilateral anodal dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) stimulation (n = 8) or bilateral cathodal superior temporal gyrus (STG) stimulation (n = 5). Patients received either 2 mA of active treatment or sham treatment (with possibility of open active treatment) for 20 minutes, for a total of 10 sessions (2 weeks). Results tDCS was well tolerated in the COS population with no serious adverse events occurring during the study. Conclusions This is the first study to demonstrate that a 20-minute duration of 2 mA of bilateral anodal and bilateral cathodal DC polarization to the DLPFC and STG was well tolerated in a pediatric population. Published by Elsevier Inc.