rTMS for Apathy Clinical Trial (REACT)

April 10, 2026 updated by: Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Apathy Clinical Trial (REACT)

Apathy is a common, early, and disabling symptom in dementias and mild behavioural impairment such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and is characterized by lack of interest and enthusiasm. Both repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a form of non-invasive brain stimulation, and methylphenidate, a medication, have been shown to improve apathy. This pilot study will investigate rTMS as a treatment for apathy in neurocognitive disorders and mild behavioural impairment in individuals receiving methylphenidate and individuals not receiving medication for apathy.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

10

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

  • Canada
    • Ontario
      • Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4N 3M5
        • Recruiting
        • Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Krista L Lanctôt, PhD
        • Contact:

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • mild or major neurocognitive disorder OR mild behavioural impairment
  • Apathy for at least 4 weeks
  • Stable dose of medication (>4 weeks) that may affect cognition or behaviour
  • Care partner who spends at least 10 hours a week with the subject

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Current major depressive episode
  • Agitation, delusions, hallucination
  • Medical contraindications to rTMS
  • Currently taking an amphetamine product
  • Central nervous system abnormalities, Tourette's syndrome, or motor tics
  • Current participation in another clinical trial

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: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: rTMS + methylphenidate
repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and methylphenidate
Device: rTMS
repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
Drug: methylphenidate
methylphenidate
Experimental: rTMS only
repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) only
Device: rTMS
repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Neuropsychiatric Inventory-apathy
Time Frame: 2 weeks
Measure of apathy on a scale from 0 to 12 with a higher score indicating greater apathy
2 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

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)

February 9, 2023

Primary Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 27, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 29, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

September 30, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

April 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 10, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SUN-5342

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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