Anodal Effects of Transcranial Electrical Stimulation of Right Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex on Working Memory of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Introduction: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, autoimmune and progressive neurologicaldisease that causes a wide range of cognitive deficits in patients by destroying the CentralNervous System (CNS). This study aims to examine the effect of Transcranial Direct CurrentStimulation (tDCS) on working memory of patients with MS.Materials and Methods: For this purpose, a quasi-experimental pre-t-est, post-test designwith the control group was considered. In total, 32 patients with relapsing-remitting MS wereselected using the convenience sampling method and randomly divided into experimentaland control groups. The intervention consisted of 10 sessions of cranial electrical stimulation,during which the participants were divided into two groups receiving real and sham stimulation.N-Back test was employed to evaluate working memory.Results: The data were analyzed using the independent t-test. The results revealed that workingmemory was improved in the experimental group compared to the control group (P<0.05).Conclusion: It could be concluded that anodal tDCS over the right dorsolateral prefrontalcortex (R-DLPFC) appears to be a promising therapeutic tool for cognitive dysfunction amongpatients with MS