Home-based tDCS in Frontotemporal Dementia or Alzheimer's Disease

Launched by JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · Jul 28, 2023

Keywords

ClinConnect Summary

In this within-subject cross-over protocol, all participants will receive both, cognitive training and brain stimulation tDCS. Participants will be randomly assigned to begin with either cognitive training and brain stimulation (dual therapy) or just brain stimulation (monotherapy) and will receive the complementary therapy program in the second round of treatment. During each period of therapy, participants will receive 50 treatment sessions over the course of approximately 10 weeks. The computerized cognitive training and brain stimulation will both be preprogrammed to be done at home by ...

Gender

ALL

Eligibility criteria

• Inclusion Criteria:
• • Must be clinically diagnosed with PPA, fronto-temporal dementia (FTD), MCI or mild Alzheimer's disease (AD). Diagnosis will be based on neuropsychological testing, language testing (most commonly the Western Aphasia Battery), MRI, and clinical assessment.
• • Must be right-handed.
• • Must be proficient in English.
• • Must have a minimum high-school education.
• Exclusion Criteria:
• • Uncorrected visual or hearing impairment by self-report.
• • Stroke/other premorbid neurological disorder affecting the brain.
• • Any other developmental language-based learning disorder other than PPA.
• • Inability to follow directions for baseline tasks.
• • Pre-existing psychiatric disorders such as behavioral disturbances, severe depression, and schizophrenia that do not allow them to comply or follow the study schedule and requirements such as repeated evaluation and therapy will be excluded.
• Exclusion Criteria for MRI participation:
• • Severe claustrophobia.
• • Cardiac pacemakers or ferromagnetic implants.
• • Pregnant women.