HD-tDCS for Phonological Impairment in Aphasia

NCT ID: NCT06010030

Last Updated: 2025-01-10

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

200 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2023-10-03

Study Completion Date

2033-01-01

Brief Summary

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This study will investigate the effects of mild electrical stimulation in conjunction with speech therapy for people with post-stroke aphasia to enhance language recovery.

Detailed Description

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Aphasia is a disturbance of language, primarily caused by brain injury to the left cerebral hemisphere. Aphasia treatments include speech and language therapy and pharmacologic therapy, but several studies have found that these treatments are not completely effective for patients with aphasia, leaving them with residual deficits that significantly add to the cost of stroke-related care. Additionally, the amount and frequency of speech and language therapy delivered may have a critical effect on recovery. Therefore, there is a need for new treatments or adjuncts to existing treatments, such as brain stimulation interventions, that have the potential to show greater improvements in patients with aphasia. One such new approach for non-invasive brain stimulation is transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS).

This study will examine the effects of tDCS during speech therapy to further examine which method or methods is best for patient recovery. Patients enrolled in the study will undergo language testing that covers a broad range of language functions. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) will be completed before and after speech therapy intervention arms to investigate the neural processes affected by tDCS and speech therapy.

Study design:

Patients will be randomly assigned to one of 2 speech therapy groups as well as randomly assigned to one of 2 stimulation groups (active anodal stimulation or sham). Patients will receive one of two different speech therapy treatment interventions to focus on specific processing deficits. Participants will undergo neuropsychological evaluation and fMRI assessment before receiving targeted anodal-tDCS or sham-tDCS for 10 therapy sessions. Participants will then be re-tested using the behavioral assessment measure and fMRI before crossing over to receive the tDCS intervention again, along with the same speech therapy arm. They will complete a behavioral assessment and fMRI at 3 months post Treatment 2 and a final behavioral assessment at 6 months post Treatment 2.

Conditions

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Aphasia Stroke

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

CROSSOVER

Participants will maintain one of two speech therapy modalities throughout the study and be assigned to either targeted anodal-tDCS or sham-tDCS.
Primary Study Purpose

TREATMENT

Blinding Strategy

TRIPLE

Participants Caregivers Outcome Assessors
Care provider, participant, and outcome assessor are masked for tDCS status.

Study Groups

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HD-tDCS

Participants will be randomized to receive either anodal HD-tDCS or sham-tDCS.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Targeted Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Intervention Type DEVICE

High-Definition-tDCS will be delivered via a battery-driven constant direct current stimulator (Soterix) using a 4x1 montage (1 central anodal electrode and 4 cathodal electrodes) arranged in a HD-cap. Anodal or sham tDCS will be administered.

Speech Therapy

Participants will be randomized to receive either phonologic-focused speech therapy or semantic-focused speech therapy

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

Speech Therapy

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Participants will receive either semantic or phonological focused speech therapy

Interventions

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Targeted Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

High-Definition-tDCS will be delivered via a battery-driven constant direct current stimulator (Soterix) using a 4x1 montage (1 central anodal electrode and 4 cathodal electrodes) arranged in a HD-cap. Anodal or sham tDCS will be administered.

Intervention Type DEVICE

Speech Therapy

Participants will receive either semantic or phonological focused speech therapy

Intervention Type BEHAVIORAL

Other Intervention Names

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HD-tDCS tDCS

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Patients must be 18 or older.

Patients may not be older than 85.

Patients must have a language deficit from left-sided focal neurologic damage (e.g. stroke, tumor).

Patients must be adults and have English-language fluency.

Patients must be eligible to undergo MRI.

Exclusion Criteria

* Advanced neurodegenerative disease (i.e. Stage 3 Alzheimer's disease)

Neurologic disease (e.g. idiopathic epilepsy, seizure disorders that are not well managed, Parkinson's disease, ALS),

Severe psychopathology (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, acute major depressive episode)

Suspected or diagnosed uncorrectable hearing or vision difficulties, or developmental disabilities (i.e. intellectual disability or learning disability).

Contraindications to MRI such as claustrophobia, implanted electronic devices, MRI-incompatible metal in the body, extreme obesity, pregnancy, inability to lie flat, inability to see or hear stimulus materials.

Younger than 18 or older than 85.

\< 6 months post tumor resection.
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

85 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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Medical College of Wisconsin

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Priyanka Shah-Basak, PhD

Assistant Professor

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

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Medical College of Wisconsin

Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States

Site Status RECRUITING

Countries

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United States

Central Contacts

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Sidney E Schoenrock, MA

Role: CONTACT

414-955-7579

Sara Pillay, Ph.D

Role: CONTACT

414-955-4482

Facility Contacts

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Sidney E Schoenrock, MA

Role: primary

414-955-7579

Sara Pillay, Ph.D

Role: backup

References

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Other Identifiers

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PRO00046308

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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