Limited treatments are available to improve consciousness in severely brain injured patients. Transcranial Direct Current stimulation (tDCS) is one of the few therapeutics that showed evidence of efficacy to increase level of consciousness and functional communication in some minimally conscious state (MCS) patients, and in some vegetative state (VS) patients. However the optimal intensity of electrical current stimulation remains unknown. This study will test the effects of two intensities of tDCS stimulation (either 0.2mA or 2mA) applied on left dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex on both behavior, - assessed by the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R) scores -, as well as quantified EEG recorded during resting state (using algorithms previously designed and published by the investigators) and event-related potentials (using auditory paradigms we previously published) in severely brain damaged patients with disorders of consciousness (MCS, VS, and conscious but cognitively disabled patients) of various etiologies.
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Change of the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised score according to tDCS current intensity (2mA versus 0.2mA)
Timeframe: Last Day of 0.2mA session (Day 14th or Day 28th) versus Last Day of 2mA session (Day 14th or Day 28th)
Change from baseline of the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised score after 2mA tDCS current intensity
Timeframe: Last Day of 2mA session (Day 14th or Day 28th) versus baseline (Day 1st)
Change from baseline of the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised score after 0.2mA tDCS current intensity
Timeframe: Last Day of 0.2mA session (Day 14th or Day 28th) versus baseline (Day 1st)