A 2026 case series of 5 adults with bodily distress disorder found mean pain scores decreased from 9.0 to 3.8 after accelerated transcranial direct current stimulation, with 4 of 5 patients achieving at least 50% pain reduction.1 The result is a feasibility signal, not proof of efficacy, because every patient knew they were receiving stimulation …
A 2026 brain tumor prehabilitation study involving 26 surgical patients found that language-targeted non-invasive stimulation plus intensive language training shifted fMRI language activation away from the stimulation target, while measured language and cognition stayed stable. Research Highlights Language-targeted prehabilitation moved the fMRI signal: the group-by-time interaction for stimulation-target overlap was significant, F(1,23) = 4.61, p …
A 2026 systematic review found 15 clinical reports of deep brain stimulation for cerebellar ataxia, covering only 27 human patients across heterogeneous targets, causes, and outcome measures. Research Highlights The human evidence base was tiny: the review found 27 patients across 15 clinical studies, including 10 case reports, 4 case series, and 1 randomized trial. …
A 2026 case series of 10 adults with refractory postherpetic neuralgia found: 3 of 8 patients responded to a spinal cord stimulation trial, 2 kept meaningful 24-month relief after implantation, and 3 dorsal root entry zone lesioning cases reported 60-90% pain relief at 24 months.1 The data are too small to rank the procedures, but …
A 2026 BETA analysis of 199 older adults found that resting-state fMRI could separate 4 anxiety-related tDCS response patterns, but the result was narrower than “brain scan predicts treatment”: only the Robust tDCS Responder subtype showed a statistically reliable Active vs. Sham anxiety advantage across all participants.1 Research Highlights Only 1 subtype cleared the Active …
Deep brain stimulation works for Parkinson’s, but it requires implanted electrodes. A 2026 randomized crossover trial by Stalter and colleagues tested whether transcranial temporal interference stimulation — a non-invasive technique designed to reach deep targets without exciting overlying cortex — can move the needle on motor symptoms when aimed at the putamen.1 Research Highlights Transcranial …
Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is emerging as a promising home-based treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), offering a non-invasive, cost-effective, and scalable option for patients. This treatment modulates cortical excitability, potentially altering neuronal activity in the brain areas associated with depression. However, a recent randomized controlled trial (RCT), the HomeDC trial, aimed at investigating …