An objective approach to cognitive fatigue diagnosis and neuromodulatory treatment in people with multiple sclerosis

Definition and evaluation of objective behavioral and electrophysiological fatigue parameters 

Interventional neuromodulatory studies

Fatigue, being a subjective perception, poses a diagnostic challenge due to its intangible nature. It afflicts approximately 80%, of individuals with MS, detrimentally impacting their overall quality of life. Nonetheless, the understanding of and therapeutic interventions for fatigue in MS remain limited. Objective fatigability, which represents a quantifiable decline in performance, also coexists alongside subjective fatigue. However, the exploration of objective biomarkers has yielded conflicting results and contradictory associations with subjective fatigue perception. This complexity further complicates the assessment and treatment of fatigue, including the potential use of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) as an alternative therapy. Consequently, this project endeavors to augment subjective fatigue diagnosis with reliable objective fatigability parameters and enhance the understanding of MS-related fatigue. The project will investigate the impact of tDCS stimulation on fatigue and fatigability symptoms in MS and examine potential biomarkers such as frontomedial theta power, occipital alpha power, prepulse inhibition (PPI), and P50 sensory gating, among others.