Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation and Aphasia Language Therapy

Completed · Phase 1 · Has a placebo group

Conditions studied: Nonfluent Aphasia, Stroke

In brief

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of small amounts of electrical current, applied without surgery to the brain, in combination with speech-language treatment, on the language outcome of study subjects with nonfluent aphasia (i.e. difficulty with the comprehension and expression of spoken and written language) following a stroke.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01486654

Run by

Shirley Ryan AbilityLab

People needed

12

Starts

2010-03-01

Expected to finish

2016-12-01

Last updated by the study team

2017-05-15

Who can join

Age: 21 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• A single unilateral left-hemisphere infarct that is confirmed by CT scan or MRI
• Nonfluent aphasia, with a mean length of utterance of 0-4 words and an Aphasia Quotient score on the Western Aphasia Battery of 25-70
• Age 21 or older
• At least 6 months post-stroke
• Premorbidly right-handed, as determined by the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory
• Premorbidly literate in English
• Completed at least an eighth grade education
• Visual acuity no worse than 20/100 corrected in the better eye
• Auditory acuity, aided in the better ear, no worse than 30 dB HL on a pure tone hearing screening (conducted at 500, 1000, 2000, and 4000 Hz.)

You may not qualify if…

• Any other neurological condition (other than cerebral vascular disease) that could potentially affect cognition or speech, such as Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Dementia, traumatic brain injury
• Any significant psychiatric history prior to the stroke, such as severe major depression or psychotic disorder requiring hospitalization; subjects with mood disorders who are currently stable on treatment will be considered
• Active substance abuse
• Seizure disorder that precludes safe participation in this trial
• Absence of left hemisphere activation during two of the three fMRI tasks
• Presence of lesions that encompass premotor cortex from the Sylvian fissure to a point high on the convexity

Where it is running

• Center for Aphasia Research & Treatment, Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago — Chicago, Illinois, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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