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

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic, autoimmune and progressive neurological disease that causes a wide range of cognitive deficits in patients by destroying the Central Nervous System (CNS). This study aims to examine the effect of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on working memory of patients with MS.

For this purpose, a quasi-experimental pre-t-est, post-test design with the control group was considered. In total, 32 patients with relapsing-remitting MS were selected using the convenience sampling method and randomly divided into experimental and 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.

The data were analyzed using the independent t-test. The results revealed that working memory was improved in the experimental group compared to the control group (P<0.05).

It could be concluded that anodal tDCS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (R-DLPFC) appears to be a promising therapeutic tool for cognitive dysfunction among patients with MS.