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Find more clinical trials

Electrical Stimulation and Verbal Memory in Alzheimer's Disease

Start: August 1, 2020
End: May 2025
Enrollment: 60

What Is This Study About?

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a safe, noninvasive, non-painful electrical stimulation of the brain that is used to support nerve cell function. Progressive damage to nerve cells in the brain leads to cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. This study will test tDCS treatment to prevent or slow nerve cell damage in the brain and improve verbal memory in people with Alzheimer's disease. Participants will receive a word-list learning intervention plus either tDCS or a sham treatment for two learning cycles of two weeks each, with five sessions each week. Between the first and second cycle, there will be three months with no treatment. After each learning period, the researchers will schedule follow-up sessions with participants to conduct testing that will include functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) tests, magnetic resonance spectroscopy, memory tests, and collection of physical and behavioral information.

Do I Qualify To Participate in This Study?

Minimum Age: 50 Years

Maximum Age: 75 Years

Must have:

Aphasic/atypical AD participants:

  • Must be right-handed
  • Must read and speak English well
  • Must have a high-school education, at minimum
  • Must be diagnosed as having logopenic variant primary progressive aphasia with Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers. Other possible diagnoses for the aphasic AD variant dementia with speech issues would be mild cognitive impairment or possible AD according to 2011 NIA-AA guidelines

Amnesic/typical AD participants:

  • Must be right-handed
  • Must read and speak English well
  • Must have a minimum of high-school education
  • Must be diagnosed with probable AD in specialized diagnostic centers with neuropsychological and AD biomarkers according to 2011 NIA-AA guidelines

Must NOT have:

  • Left-handed individuals
  • Previous neurological disease including vascular dementia (e.g., stroke, developmental dyslexia, dysgraphia, or attentional deficit)
  • Significant hearing loss (>25 decibel, using audiometric hearing screen)
  • Uncorrected vision loss
  • Advanced dementia or severe language impairments with Mini-Mental State Exam <15, or Montreal cognitive assessment <10, or language Frontotemporal Dementia-specific Clinical Dementia Rating = 3
  • People with preexisting psychiatric disorders such as behavioral disturbances, severe depression, or schizophrenia that make it difficult to follow the study schedule and requirements
  • Inability to undergo MRI (severe claustrophobia, cardiac pacemakers or ferromagnetic implants, pregnancy)

If I Qualify, Who Do I Contact?

Contact study personnel listed either under the general study contact or the location nearest you.

Study Contact
Kyrana Tsapkini, PhD
Jessica Gallegos

Need Help?

Contact NIA’s Alzheimer’s and related Dementias Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center at 800-438-4380 or email ADEAR.

Where Is This Study Located?

Maryland
Johns Hopkins Hospital
Baltimore, MD 21287
Recruiting
Kyrana Tsapkini, PhD

Who Sponsors This Study?

Lead: Johns Hopkins University

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04122001

alzheimers.gov

An official website of the U.S. government, managed by the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health