Improving Rehabilitation by Magnetic Brain Stimulation

April 15, 2015 updated by: US Department of Veterans Affairs

Improving Rehabilitation by Magnetic Brain Stimulation: Improving Motor Recovery After Stroke

We hope to understand the properties of the motor cortex in the brain of people with stroke using non-invasive magnetic stimulation.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This case series assesses the effects of five consecutive days of low-frequency (1 Hz) repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) with and without a 6-Hz primer. Although this paper studies able-bodied individuals, similar rTMS protocols are used to facilitate motor recovery in patients with hemiplegia following stroke. However, the cortical mechanisms associated with repeated daily doses of rTMS are not completely understood.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

4

Phase

  • Phase 1

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Georgia
      • Decatur, Georgia, United States, 30033
        • Atlanta VA Medical and Rehab Center, Decatur

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • 3-24 months post stroke
  • upper limb paresis
  • CES-D below 16,

Exclusion Criteria:

  • history of seizure
  • metal in head
  • score of less than 24 on the Folstein Mini-Mental Status Exam
  • clinical judgement of excessive frailty or lack of stamina (e.g. cannot attend to instructions, stay awake, engage in functional activities)
  • serious uncontrolled medical condition
  • excessive pain in any joint of the more affected extremity that could limit ability to cooperate with the intervention as judged by the examining clinician

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Primed rTMS
Receive 10 min. of 6-Hz rTMS Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation at 90% RMT (3,600 pulses). Followed by 30 min. of 1-Hz rTMS at 95% RMT (1,880 pulses)
We will position a coil over the motor cortex of the head and give a series of stimulations (called magnetic pulses).
Other Names:
  • RTMS
Placebo Comparator: Unprimed rTMS)
Receive 10 min. of sham rTMS Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation. Followed by 30 min. of 1-Hz rTMS at 95% RMT (1,880 pulses)
We will position a coil over the motor cortex of the head and give a series of stimulations (called magnetic pulses).
Other Names:
  • RTMS

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Percentage BOLD (Blood-oxygen-level Dependent Contrast Imaging) Signal From Baseline at 2 Weeks
Time Frame: Baseline (day 0) and 2 weeks
Blood-oxygen-level dependent contrast imaging, or BOLD-contrast imaging, is a method used in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to observe different areas of the brain or other organs, which are found to be active at any given time. In 1990, three papers published by Seiji Ogawa and colleagues showed that haemoglobin has different magnetic properties in its oxygenated and deoxygenated forms, both of which could be detected using MRI. This leads to magnetic signal variation which can be detected using an MRI scanner. Given many repetitions of a thought, action or experience, statistical methods can be used to determine the areas of the brain which reliably have more of this difference as a result, and therefore which areas of the brain are active during that thought, action or experience. The percentage BOLD was measures at day 0 and day two weeks. We measured the change in the dependent measure from day 0 to day 2 weeks .
Baseline (day 0) and 2 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Andrew Butler, PhD MS BA, Atlanta VA Medical and Rehab Center, Decatur

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

September 1, 2007

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 7, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 13, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

March 14, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 1, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 15, 2015

Last Verified

April 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • B4657-P

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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