| Title |
An innovative intervention for the treatment of cognitive impairment–Emisymmetric bilateral stimulation improves cognitive functions in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment: an open-label study
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, September 2015
|
| DOI | 10.2147/ndt.s90966 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Fabio Guerriero, Emanuele Botarelli, Gianni Mele, Lorenzo Polo, Daniele Zoncu, Paolo Renati, Carmelo Sgarlata, Marco Rollone, Giovanni Ricevuti, Niccolo Maurizi, Matthew Francis, Mariangela Rondanelli, Simone Perna, Davide Guido, Piero Mannu |
| Abstract |
In the last decade, the development of different methods of brain stimulation by electromagnetic fields (EMF) provides a promising therapeutic tool for subjects with impaired cognitive functions. Emisymmetric bilateral stimulation (EBS) is a novel and innovative EMF brain stimulation, whose working principle is to introduce very weak noise-like stimuli through EMF to trigger self-arrangements in the cortex of treated subjects, thereby improving cognitive faculties. The aim of this pilot study was to investigate in patients with cognitive impairment the effectiveness of EBS treatment with respect to global cognitive function, episodic memory, and executive functions. Fourteen patients with cognitive decline (six with mild cognitive impairment and eight with Alzheimer's disease) underwent three EBS applications per week to both the cerebral cortex and auricular-specific sites for a total of 5 weeks. At baseline, after 2 weeks and 5 weeks, a neuropsychological assessment was performed through mini-mental state examination, free and cued selective reminding tests, and trail making test. As secondary outcomes, changes in behavior, functionality, and quality of life were also evaluated. After 5 weeks of standardized EBS therapy, significant improvements were observed in all neurocognitive assessments. Mini-mental state examination score significantly increased from baseline to end treatment (+3.19, P=0.002). Assessment of episodic memory showed an improvement both in immediate and delayed recalls (immediate recall =+7.57, P=0.003; delayed recall =+4.78, P<0.001). Executive functions significantly improved from baseline to end stimulation (trail making test A -53.35 seconds; P=0.001). Of note, behavioral disorders assessed through neuropsychiatric inventory significantly decreased (-28.78, P<0.001). The analysis concerning the Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment group confirmed a significant improvement of cognitive functions and behavior after EBS treatment. This pilot study has shown EBS to be a promising, effective, and safe tool to treat cognitive impairment, in addition to the drugs presently available. Further investigations and controlled clinical trials are warranted. |
X Demographics
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Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 1 | 25% |
| Unknown | 3 | 75% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 2 | 50% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 50% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 67 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 67 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 11 | 16% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 7 | 10% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 6 | 9% |
| Other | 4 | 6% |
| Student > Bachelor | 4 | 6% |
| Other | 14 | 21% |
| Unknown | 21 | 31% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Psychology | 19 | 28% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 4 | 6% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 4 | 6% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 4% |
| Neuroscience | 3 | 4% |
| Other | 13 | 19% |
| Unknown | 21 | 31% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 12. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 09 October 2015.
All research outputs
#2,983,290
of 25,374,647 outputs
Outputs from Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment
#392
of 3,132 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#37,300
of 276,791 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment
#9
of 95 outputs
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We're also able to compare this research output to 95 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done well, scoring higher than 88% of its contemporaries.