Treatment of Memory Disorders in Gulf War Illness With High Definition Transcranial Direct Cortical Stimulation

Launched by THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT DALLAS · May 17, 2018

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

This clinical trial is exploring a new way to help veterans from the Gulf War who struggle with memory issues, particularly finding the right words during conversations. The researchers have identified specific areas in the brain that are important for word retrieval and are testing a treatment called High Definition transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD tDCS). This non-invasive method involves sending small electric currents to the targeted brain areas to see if it improves the ability to retrieve words. Half of the participants will receive the actual treatment, while the other half will undergo a similar procedure without the active current (this is known as the sham condition). The goal is to determine if those receiving the treatment perform better on verbal tasks.

To be eligible for the trial, participants must be U.S. military veterans who served during the Gulf War and were deployed to regions like Iraq or Kuwait, aged between 18 and 50 during their service. They should be right-handed, speak English, and have no history of certain neurological disorders or conditions that could interfere with the treatment. If the treatment proves effective, those in the sham group will be offered the chance to try it after the study concludes. The researchers hope this approach will not only enhance communication abilities for the veterans but also provide a framework for future treatments targeting similar cognitive challenges.

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • US military veterans serving during the 1990-1991 GW and were deployed to the theater of operations in Southwest Asia (i.e., Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia) who are capable of understanding and signing an informed consent document.
• • between the ages of 18 and 50 years old DURING SERVICE in the Gulf War (born between 1940 and 1973).
• • Any gender, race/ethnicity, and both enlisted and officer ranks will be included.
• • English speakers because not all of the screening forms, questionnaires, and tests are available in languages other than English.
• • right-handed
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • non-English speakers because not all of the screening forms, questionnaires, and tests are available in any language except English.
• • a history of a neurological disorder, including dementia of any type, moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), brain tumors, present or past drug abuse, stroke, blood vessel abnormalities in the brain, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, or multiple sclerosis. Traumatic brain injury will be screened by history.
• • anyone cognitively or clinically incompetent to give informed consent.
• • taking medications that interact with the tDCS effect including amphetamines, L-dopa, carbamazepine, sulpiride, pergolide, lorazepam, rivastigmine, dextromethorphan, D-cycloserine, flunarizine, ropinirole,or citalopram.
• • cardiac pacemakers, implanted medication pumps of any sort, or a history of bad heart disease, and/or the presence of any metal objects in or near the head which cannot be safely removed for the duration of this study which could be affected by tDCS or affect the administration of tDCS.