Non-invasive Brain Stimulation and Occupational Therapy To Enhance Stroke Recovery (TDCS+OT)

May 2, 2018 updated by: Gottfried Schlaug, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Facilitating Motor Recovery After Stroke Using tDCS

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a non-painful, non-invasive, brain-stimulation technique called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with traditional physical-occupational therapy (OT) will improve motor function in patients with chronic stroke. The aim is to determine the effect of applying real (anodal and/or cathodal) - in a dual configuration - vs sham (pretend) tDCS to the motor brain regions on both hemispheres - in a dual configuration - to improve motor function in chronic stroke patients. Our research in normal subjects has shown that motor skills can be enhanced if tDCS is applied to the brain's motor region during motor learning. The effects after a single session of tDCS can last for up to 30 minutes, effects of multiple sessions (one session per day) can last for weeks. Furthermore, single sessions of tDCS applied to the motor regions in stroke patients have shown that improvements in motor functions can be seen and that effects may last for at least 30 minutes. Patients enrolled in this trial will be randomized to receive either real tDCS or sham tDCS in combination with PT-OT once a day for 5 days. Assessments will be done about 3 days and 7 days after the end of the experimental treatment by investigators who are blinded to the intervention. Patients are also blinded as to whether they are receiving real or sham tDCS. We hypothesize that real tDCS applied to the motor regions in combination with PT-OT results in a subsequent improvement in motor function of the recovering hand over sham tDCS in combination with PT-OT.

Study Overview

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

20

Phase

  • 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

    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02215
        • Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center / Harvard Medical School

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

21 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • First time clinical ischemic stroke or cerebrovascular accident
  • At least 5 months out from first ischemic stroke prior to study enrollment

Exclusion Criteria:

  • More than 1 stroke (older strokes)
  • Significant pre-stroke disability
  • A terminal medical illness or disorder with survival of less than 1 year
  • Co-existent major neurological or psychiatric diseases (e.g., epilepsy)
  • Use of psychoactive drugs/medications - such as antidepressants,antipsychotic, stimulating agents
  • Active participation in other stroke recovery trials testing interventions

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
Active Comparator: Real-tDCS + PT-OT
Each subject will receive up to 5 days of traditional physical-occupational therapy for at least 1 hour per day in the stroke recovery laboratory in combination with real transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the motor region for up to 30 min.
A direct current runs between two electrode positions and affects the excitability of the underlying brain tissue
Other Names:
  • Brain stimulation
  • Non-invasive brain stimulation
  • Enhancing stroke recovery
Sham Comparator: Sham-tDCS + PT-OT
Each subject will receive up to 5 days of traditional physical-occupational therapy for at least 1 hour per day in the stroke recovery laboratory in combination with sham (pretend) tDCS for up to 30 min. over the motor region.
A sham current runs between two electrode positions and might affect the underlying brain tissue.
Other Names:
  • Brain stimulation
  • Non-invasive brain stimulation
  • Enhancing stroke recovery

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Fugl-Meyer Assessment of Upper Extremity Motor Impairment
Time Frame: Baseline Assessment; 3 days after 5 treatment days; 7 days after 5 treatment days
This scale goes from 0 to 66 (max). Higher values are considered to be a better outcome.
Baseline Assessment; 3 days after 5 treatment days; 7 days after 5 treatment days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Wolf-Motor-Function-Test
Time Frame: Baseline Assessment; 3 days after 5 treatment days; 7 days after 5 treatment days
The Wolf-Motor-Function-Test (time) is the average time in seconds taken to perform each of 15 functional tasks ranging in difficulty from putting one's forearm on a table to stacking checkers. Participants are given 120 seconds to perform a task and if they fail, they are scored 120 for that task," or similar as accurate. The average time in seconds is then log10 transformed.
Baseline Assessment; 3 days after 5 treatment days; 7 days after 5 treatment days

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Gottfried Schlaug, MD, PhD, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center / Harvard Medical School

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

June 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2013

Study Completion (Actual)

February 1, 2013

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 17, 2008

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 17, 2008

First Posted (Estimate)

November 18, 2008

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 4, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 2, 2018

Last Verified

May 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

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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