Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-16-2024
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: During general anesthesia, frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) activity in the alpha frequency band (8-12 Hz) correlates with the adequacy of analgesia. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and auditory stimulation, two noninvasive neuromodulation techniques, can entrain alpha activity in awake or sleeping patients. This study evaluates their effects on alpha oscillations in patients under general anesthesia.
METHODS: 30 patients receiving general anesthesia for surgery were enrolled in this two-by-two randomized clinical trial. Each participant received active or sham tDCS followed by auditory stimulation or silence according to assigned group (TDCS/AUD, TDCS/SIL, SHAM/AUD, SHAM/SIL). Frontal EEG was recorded before and after neuromodulation. Patients with burst suppression, mid-study changes in anesthetic, or incomplete EEG recordings were excluded from analysis. The primary outcome was post-stimulation change in oscillatory alpha power, compared in each intervention group against the change in the control group SHAM/SIL by Wilcoxon Rank Sum testing.
RESULTS: All 30 enrolled participants completed the study. Of the 22 included for analysis, 8 were in TDCS/AUD, 4 were in TDCS/SIL, 5 were in SHAM/AUD, and 5 were in SHAM/SIL. The median change in oscillatory alpha power was +4.7 dB (IQR 4.4, 5.8 dB) in SHAM/SIL, +2.8 dB (IQR 1.5, 8.9 dB) in TDCS/SIL (p = 0.730), +5.5 dB in SHAM/AUD (p = 0.421), and -6.1 dB (IQR -10.2, -2.2 dB) in TDCS/AUD (p = 0.045).
CONCLUSION: tDCS and auditory stimulation can be administered safely intraoperatively. However, these interventions did not increase alpha power as administered and measured in this pilot study.
Recommended Citation
Isik, Oliver G.; Cassim, Tuan Z.; Ahmed, Meah T.; Kreuzer, Matthias; Daramola, Alice M.; and Garcia, Paul S., "Effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Narrow-Band Auditory Stimulation on the Intraoperative Electroencephalogram: An Exploratoratory Feasibility Study" (2024). SKMC Student Presentations and Publications. Paper 12.
https://jdc.jefferson.edu/skmcstudentworks/12
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Language
English
Comments
This article, first published by Frontiers Media, is the author's final published version in Frontiers in Psychiatry, Volume 15, 2024, Article number 1362749.
The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2024.1362749.
Copyright © 2024 Isik, Cassim, Ahmed, Kreuzer, Daramola and Garcia