Treating Word Finding Difficulties in Traumatic Brain Injury With HD-tDCS

Summary

The purpose of the study is to test whether low level electric stimulation, called transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), on the part of the brain (i.e., pre-supplementary motor area) thought to aid in memory will improve verbal retrieval in civilian (non-military, non-veteran) participants with histories of traumatic brain injuries. The primary outcome measures are neuropsychological assessments of verbal retrieval, and the secondary measures are neuropsychological assessments of other cognitive abilities and electroencephalography (EEG) measures. Additionally, the study will examine the degree to which baseline assessments of cognition, concussion history, structural brain imaging, and EEG predict responses to treatment over time, both on assessments administered within the intervention period and at follow-up.

Conditions

• Traumatic Brain Injury
• Cognitive Change
• Word Finding Difficulty
• Acquired Brain Injury

Interventions

DEVICE

Active Transcranial direct current stimulation

Transcranial direct current stimulation will be delivered via a Neuroelectrics Starstim tES. Stimulation will consist of 1 milliamp stimulation, with anodal stimulation delivered at electrode Fz (International 10/10 System for electroencephalography electrode placement) and electrodes F7, FP1, FP2, and F8 as returns. All electrodes are 1 cm diameter Ag/AgCl electrodes and make contact with the scalp via connective gel. Stimulation will linearly ramp up from 0 milliamps to 1 milliamp over 60 seconds, then remain at 1 milliamp of stimulation over 20 minutes, and finally ramping down at to 0 milliamps over 60 seconds.

DEVICE

Sham Transcranial direct current stimulation

Sham transcranial direct current stimulation will be delivered via a Neuroelectrics Starstim tES. The sham setup will consist of anodal electrode Fz (International 10/10 System for electroencephalography electrode placement) and electrodes F7, FP1, FP2, and F8 as returns. All electrodes are 1 cm diameter Ag/AgCl electrodes and make contact with the scalp via connective gel. Stimulation will linearly ramp up from 0 milliamps to 1 milliamp over 60 seconds, ramp down to 0 milliamps over 60 seconds and then be left off for 20 minutes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center

  collaborator OTHER

• The University of Texas at Dallas

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• John Hart, MD · The University of Texas at Dallas

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

TRIPLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

85 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2024-12-01

Primary Completion

2025-11-12

Completion

2025-11-12

FDA Device

Yes

Countries

• United States

Study Locations