None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Up to 38% of individuals who have a stroke will develop an often-lifelong language impairment called aphasia. There is evidence that repeated sessions of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) may improve symptoms of aphasia, however it is not yet understood how this neuromodulation intervention works. The purpose of this novel study is to investigate both physiological and behavioural outcomes of rTMS to gain better neurophysiological insight into this treatment.
Interventions
In a crossover design, participants received one session of 1-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and one session of sham rTMS, separated by at least 7 days. rTMS is applied by placing a magnetic coil against the scalp to deliver repeated, non-invasive magnetic pulses that modulate electrical activity in a targeted brain region. 1-Hz rTMS was delivered at 80% resting motor threshold for 10 minutes to the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Intervention was delivered by the lea
In a crossover design, participants received one session of 1-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and one session of sham rTMS, separated by at least 7 days. rTMS is applied by placing a magnetic coil against the scalp to deliver repeated, non-invasive magnetic pulses that modulate electrical activity in a targeted brain region. 1-Hz rTMS was delivered at 80% resting motor threshold for 10 minutes to the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). Intervention was delivered by the lead author (a Certified Practising Speech Pathologist) and as such no strategies to monitor adherence were required. EEG was collected during a semantic judgment task before and after rTMS delivery. Participants also completed a picture naming task before and after rTMS as a behavioural outcome measure.
Sponsors
University of Adelaide
Study design
Allocation
Non-randomised trial
Intervention model
Crossover
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Subject)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 75 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
i) aged 18-75 years old; ii) diagnosis of any non-fluent aphasia type (e.g., Broca’s aphasia or transcortical motor aphasia) or anomic aphasia as per the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (WAB-R); iii) stroke occurred >6 months ago (chronic); iv) only one known stroke event; v) right-handed prior to stroke (Flinders Handedness Survey); and vi) English as a first language.
Exclusion criteria
i) >mild cognitive impairment on the non-linguistic cognition component of the Cognitive Linguistic Quick Test-Plus (i.e., score below 25 for ages 18-69 and below 18 for ages 70-89); ii) unable to name any items in the WAB-R; iii) reported significant vision impairment not corrected by glasses; iv) reported diagnosis of psychiatric illness or progressive neurological disease; v) reported current usage of medication affecting the central nervous system, except for anti-depressant medication or medications known to raise seizure threshold (e.g., Pregabalin, Gabapentin) provided that dosage was stable; or vi) reported contraindications to TMS or MRI.
Outcome results
None listed