Parkinson's disease treatments: focus on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Abstract

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is among the most common progressive neurodegenerative conditions worldwide, characterized by bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor, and postural instability, in addition to a variety of cognitive and behavior complications. Current pharmacological treatment options focus on dopaminergic replacement, but these become less efficacious as the disease progresses. Noninvasive brain stimulation techniques have therefore gained favor in recent years as a means of treating the motor and non-motor complications of PD. Here we review the evidence behind the use of transcranial direct current stimulation in the treatment of motor and non-motor complications of PD, discuss the limitations that have hindered the introduction of transcranial direct current stimulation into mainstream clinical practice, and highlight future directions that may enable the translation of this research tool into clinical use.