Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) in the Treatment of Anorexia Nervosa

The Changes in the Body-perception and Perception of the Pain in Patients With Anorexia Nervosa Before and After Using the tDCS

Status

Completed

Phases

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT03273205

Acronym

SANO

Enrollment

Registered

2017-09-06

Start date

2017-05-22

Completion date

2021-02-01

Last updated

2021-02-17

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Anorexia Nervosa

Keywords

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)

Brief summary

Anorexia Nervosa (AN) is a serious and often chronical eating disorder characterized by an extreme effort for weight loss and intense fear of becoming fat despite the obvious thinness. The treatment is very difficult and not always effective. That´s the reason why we are looking for new ways of the therapeutic approach. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulation technique, which modulates the neuronal excitability. According to previous research it has a potential to help people with Anorexia Nervosa. The device for the tDCS has two electrodes, an anode (the excitatory one) and a cathode (the inhibitory one). We put them on the skull into the different positions, in dependence on the fact, if we want to excite or on to inhibit the parts of the brain under the electrodes. There are several hypothesis how could the tDCS help in patients with AN. One of them speaks about the hyperactivity of the right hemisphere in Anorexia Nervosa. Therefore could the anodal (excitatory) tDCS over the left hemisphere and the cathodal (inhibitory one) help in resetting the inter-hemispheric balance.

Detailed description

Stimulation of 2 milliampere is applied for 30 minutes in every real session. Together there are 10 sessions, the application is every workday within 2 weeks. All measurements and questionnaires are made 4 times: 1. Before the stimulation 2. On the day of the last stimulation 3. 14 days after the last stimulation 4. 28 days after the last stimulation

Interventions

DEVICEAnodal tDCS

This group gets a real stimulation

DEVICESham tDCS

This group gets a sham stimulation

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

PARALLEL

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

QUADRUPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 65 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* patients with the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa

Exclusion criteria

* patients: with the diagnosis of epilepsy, after a serious injury of head, with chronic headache, with some metal or electronic implants in their heads and patients who are pregnant.

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change of the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDEq) score	8 weeks	Comparison of the total scores and subscores of the Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDEq)

Secondary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Change of the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale	8 weeks	Comparison of the total scores of the Zung Self-Rating Depression Scale
Change of the pain threshold	8 weeks	Measurement of the pain threshold with the TSA II Neuro Sensory Analyzer
Change of the weight in kilograms	8 weeks	Regularly weighting on the scale

Countries

Czechia

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 14, 2026