TMS Pilot in Early AD II

January 6, 2026 updated by: HealthPartners Institute

A Preliminary Sham-Controlled Theta Burst Stimulation (TBS) Study in Early-Stage Alzheimer's Disease (AD)

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative condition affecting 6.2 million individuals in the United States, resulting in an annual cost of care of $305 billion. AD is functionally characterized by progressive degeneration of large-scale brain networks (LSBNs), including the default mode network (DMN) presumably from the deposition of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. Available FDA-approved medications for AD such as donepezil and memantine offer limited benefit and modest impact on quality of life. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) offers a non-invasive alternative to pharmacotherapy in persons with AD. We propose a case series study to compare sham with iTBS.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Enrolling by invitation

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
6

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

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

  • United States
    • Minnesota
      • Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, 55130
        • HealthPartners Neuroscience Center

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

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Established diagnosis of Mild cognitive impairment (MCI)/mild AD
  • Evidence for central nervous system (CNS) amyloidosis (e.g., Amyloid Positron Emission Tomography (PET) or Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) biomarkers consistent with AD)
  • Prior brain imaging performed
  • Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE) >24
  • Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) 0.5-1
  • Stable dose of cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine for at least one month
  • Subjects are between 40-90 years of age

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Non-AD dementia including, but not limited to, Lewy body dementia, frontotemporal dementia, vascular dementia, Jakob-Creutzfeldt disease, etc.
  • Inability to tolerate resting state-function magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI)
  • Contraindication of rs-fMRI due to implants or metal
  • Seizure disorder

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: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Intermittent theta burst stimulation
Subjects will receive treatment with intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) with the active coil. There will be a total of 5 treatments over a 2-week period. All subjects will receive iTBS to the 8Av region. TBS treatment will also be provided for two additional sites within the large-scale brain networks (LSBNs) that is found to contain the greatest number of connectivity anomalies. Total participation will be 6-9 weeks.
Device: Intermittent theta burst stimulation active coil
MagVenture TMS Therapy active coil with theta burst stimulation. Resting motor threshold: 80%; Number of pulses per session: 1200 pulses; Inter-train interval: 8 seconds; Pulse frequency in burst: 50 Hertz
Other Names:
  • Transmagnetic stimulation
  • MagVenture
Sham Comparator: Sham device
Subjects will receive treatment with sham coil. There will be a total of 5 treatments over a 2-week period. Coil will be placed over the same region as the experimental group. Total participation will be 6-9 weeks. An open-label extension will be offered to participants that received the sham (control) treatment without further data collection.
Device: Sham coil
MagVenture TMS Therapy sham coil
Other Names:
  • MagVenture

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Effect of TBS on cognition between and within subjects using Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status Update (RBANS)
Time Frame: baseline, 7 weeks
Average change of RBANS total score in TMS arm compared to the average change in RBANS total score in the sham arm. Range [-160 to 160]. Positive comparison of TMS arm to sham arm indicates increased cognitive scores in TMS arm.
baseline, 7 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
HealthPartners Institute

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Bhavani Kashyap, MBBS, PhD, HealthPartners Institute

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 (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
December 23, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
February 3, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
February 7, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
February 10, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
January 7, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
January 6, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
January 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • A21-251-01

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

No identifiable data will be shared with other researchers.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

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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