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Therapy of Alzheimer's Disease With Neurofeedback

NCT03070821 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 30

Last updated 2017-03-06

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The project aims to investigate in patients of Alzheimer's disease in a prodromal state (early state of the disease) compared to healthy subjects whether neurofeedback training with functional MRI (fMRI) can improve cognitive ability. It is of interest if voluntary modulation of brain activation with real-time (rt) fMRI as a novel method affects cognitive ability, as well as functional and structural measures of the brain.

Over the course of the study subjects will learn a real-world footpath. During neurofeedback training subjects are then asked to recall this footpath while simultaneously trying to modulate their own brain activation based on feedback. Feedback is given about the parahippocampal gyrus - a region of the brain associated with episodic and visuo-spatial memory, which is known to be affected early by Alzheimer's disease pathology.

Before and after the training cognitive ability is assessed using neuropsychological tests mainly measuring numerous domains of memory.

The investigators hypothesise that the training leads to an improvement of the trained cognitive domain, but also induces changes in brain structure and function.

Conditions

  • Alzheimer Dementia (AD)
  • Elderly

Interventions

OTHER

rtfMRI neurofeedback training

Information about the state of brain activation was given to subjects. That information was visualised as a thermometer bar. Subjects tried to modulate that activation while performing a mental imagery task.

DEVICE

3T MRI

A 3T Siemens MRI scanner was used to implement rtfMRI neurofeedback training.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Alzheimer Forschung Initiative e.V.

    collaborator UNKNOWN

  • University Hospital, Aachen

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Kathrin Reetz, Prof. Dr. · University Hospital, Aachen

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
SINGLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
50 Years
Max Age
80 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2013-01-30
Primary Completion
2016-06-30
Completion
2016-06-30

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03070821 on ClinicalTrials.gov