Post-Stroke Aphasia TMS

Purpose

The investigator proposes to examine the effects of excitatory transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) combined with semantic feature analysis (SFA) language therapy to improve word-finding abilities in stroke survivors with aphasia (SWA).

Conditions

  • Aphasia
  • Stroke
  • Language

Eligibility

Eligible Ages
Over 18 Years
Eligible Sex
All
Accepts Healthy Volunteers
No

Inclusion Criteria

  • Diagnosed with left hemisphere stroke - Consent date >= 1 month after stroke onset - Fluent in English - 18 years of age or older

Exclusion Criteria

  • Severe cognitive, auditory or visual impairments that would preclude cognitive and language testing - Presence of major untreated or unstable psychiatric disease (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar disease) - A chronic medical condition that is not treated or is unstable - The presence of cardiac stimulators or pacemakers or intracardiac lines, neurostimulators, medication infusion device, any other implants near the scalp (e.g., cochlear implants) or in the eye, metal in the body (e.g., splinters, fragments, clips) - Pregnancy - History of skull fractures, or skin diseases - History of ongoing or unmanaged seizures - Presence of factors that potentially decrease seizure thresholds: on pro-convulsant medications, untreated sleep deprivation or insomnia, ongoing alcoholism or illegal drug abuse (e.g., cocaine or MDMA users) - History of dyslexia or other developmental learning disabilities

Study Design

Phase
N/A
Study Type
Interventional
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention Model
Parallel Assignment
Primary Purpose
Treatment
Masking
Single (Participant)

Arm Groups

ArmDescriptionAssigned Intervention
Active Comparator
Precision TMS 		SFA will be administered immediately after precision TMS
  • Device: Precision TMS with SFA
    Excitatory TMS delivered using a precision site finding approach and intermittent theta burst stimulation protocol
Placebo Comparator
Control TMS 		SFA will be administered immediately after control TMS
  • Device: Control TMS with SFA
    Excitatory TMS using intermittent theta burst stimulation delivered to a control vertex site.

Recruiting Locations

Medical College of Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226
Contact:
Sidney Schoenrock, MA
414-955-7579
sschoenrock@mcw.edu

More Details

Status
Recruiting
Sponsor
Medical College of Wisconsin

Study Contact

Sidney Schoenrock, MA
414-955-7579
sschoenrock@mcw.edu

Detailed Description

In this project, the investigator will use functional neuroimaging and inhibitory TMS to determine precise therapy-responsive targets for excitatory TMS therapy with SFA. One group of stroke survivors will receive SFA + TMS targeting the precision site, and another group will receive SFA + TMS targeting a control site. The primary outcome will be changes in picture naming accuracy. We expect that excitatory TMS targeting a precision site would result in larger improvements in naming accuracy than TMS targeting a control site. Results will provide the efficacy of precision TMS in post-stroke aphasia.