Brain Stimulation Effects on Post-Stroke Fatigue and Aphasia

Summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to determine if electrical brain stimulation applied to the front parts of the brain can help people who have had a stroke improve their fatigue, language, and attention. The main question it aims to answer is:

* Does transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) administered to the pre-frontal areas of the brain improve post-stroke fatigue and aphasia?
* What kinds of participant characteristics are associated with better improvement of post-stroke fatigue and aphasia?

Researchers will compare active electrical stimulation to sham stimulation to see if the active stimulation does a better job at reducing fatigue and language deficits after stroke. Participants will be asked to complete fatigue, language, and cognitive testing before and after receiving 10 sessions of tDCS plus speech and language therapy.

Conditions

• Aphasia Following Cerebral Infarction
• Stroke Ischemic
• Fatigue Symptom

Interventions

DEVICE

tDCS (active)

The investigators will administer active tDCS to left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during 10 sessions of behavioral treatment. For active tDCS, the current will slowly be increased to 2mA and applied for 20 minutes.

BEHAVIORAL

Attention-focused sentence comprehension treatment

This is a specific type of speech-language therapy that focuses on simultaneously improving auditory comprehension and behavioral attention. Participants will receive 10 sessions of this treatment.

BEHAVIORAL

Sentence comprehension treatment

This is a specific type of speech-language therapy that focuses on improving auditory comprehension . Participants will receive 10 sessions of this treatment.

DEVICE

tDCS (sham)

The investigators will administer sham tDCS to left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) during 10 sessions of behavioral treatment. For sham tDCS, the current will slowly be increased to 2mA over the course of 30 seconds and then immediately ramped back down to zero.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

  collaborator NIH

• Syracuse University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

QUADRUPLE

Model

FACTORIAL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-08-04

Primary Completion

2029-09-30

Completion

2029-11-30

FDA Device

Yes

Countries

• United States

Study Locations