AUTHOR=Cordeiro Barbara Naeme de Lima , Rocha Jader Vinicius Da Silva , Kuster Elizangela , Thibauth Aurore , Nascimento Lucas Rodrigues , Swank Chad , Arêas Guilherme Peixoto Tinoco , da Silva Filho Walter Gomes , Anhoque Carolina Fiorin , Silva Paiva Wellingson , Buarque Jéssica Costa , Arêas Fernando Zanela 

TITLE=Transcranial direct current stimulation in individuals with severe traumatic brain injury in the subacute phase: a case series

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 19 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2025.1552387

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2025.1552387

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=The aim of this study is to report clinical cases of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) who underwent transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the subacute phase. We hypothesize that tDCS will improve the functional and cognitive recovery of patients. 5 men, admitted with severe TBI, and Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score ≤ 8 on admission or at some point during hospitalization, were in the subacute phase of the trauma (between 2 and 16 weeks). Participants received 5 sessions of tDCS every day. The results were measured at the beginning and at the end of the 5 sessions. The application of tDCS with an active electrode (anode) was applied to the region of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC - F3) and the cathode was positioned over the contralateral supraorbital area. Clinical outcomes were measured through cognitive assessment, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), mental health and depression, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS-A), pain, visual analogue scale (VAS), Functional Independence Measure (FIM), Rancho Los Amigos Scale (RLAS) and Glasgow Outcome Scale - Extended (GOS-E), were applied to classify the patient’s condition. For characteristics of participants and findings results, descriptive statistics were presented as mean ± Standard Deviation (SD). The results after the tDCS intervention show substantial improvement in the assessed. The research demonstrates the potential benefits of using tDCS in patients with TBI, but also provides a practical basis for applying these techniques in clinical settings.