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Involvement of the Mediodorsal Nucleus of the Thalamus in Higher Order Cognitive Processes

Involvement of the Mediodorsal Nucleus of the Thalamus in Higher Order Cognitive Processes : a Study in Patients With a Thalamic Infarct

Status
UNKNOWN
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT03867149
Acronym
THALEM2-0
Enrollment
40
Registered
2019-03-07
Start date
2019-05-14
Completion date
2023-04-30
Last updated
2020-01-14

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Thalamic Infarction

Keywords

Mediodorsal nucleus, higher order cognition

Brief summary

The aim is to expand evidence about the importance of the mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus as a key node in human higher-order cognitive functions such as learning, decision-making, and adaptive behavior. Thus, the project proposes to assess global cognition along with higher-order cognition integrity via sensitive behavior tasks in patients with well localized lesions (mediodorsal thalamic infarcts) compared with healthy participants.

Detailed description

The recruitment of patients with isolated thalamic lesion after stroke is known to be a challenge that the investigators overcame through the expertise of neurologists within their stroke unit. First, they will describe the cognitive profile consecutive to a lesion of the thalamus, assessed with standardized neuropsychological tests. Second, and more specifically, they will study performances at experimental tasks focusing on higher-order cognition (decision-making, updating, interference managing, multitasking). They will use the automatic localization method already performed : the lesions will be manually segmented from T1 morphologic sequences, and then normalized in a template. Finally a numerical atlas of thalamus will be applied on the lesions, determining the injured substructure and the lesion volume. Besides, this method will be compared with new high resolution thalamus-centered anatomical sequences allowing direct and individual identification of the involved thalamic nucleus.

Interventions

OTHERneuroimaging

neuroimaging including high-resolution imaging of the thalamus, DTI and resting state fMRI

OTHERNeuropsychological assessment

neuropsychological assessment of memory, language, executive functions and mood

Sponsors

Institut National de la Santé Et de la Recherche Médicale, France
CollaboratorOTHER_GOV
University Hospital, Toulouse
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
DIAGNOSTIC
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

for patients: * French as their mother tongue * Absence of cognitive deterioration before the stroke. * Visual, auditory (equipment authorized) and oral or written skills sufficient for the proper assessment using neuropsychological tests. * First infarct affecting the thalamus. * At least seven years' schooling from primary school * Signed informed consent * Chronic lesion (\> 3 months) Inclusion criteria for controls: * French as their mother tongue * Absence of cognitive complain * Visual, auditory (equipment authorized) and oral or written skills sufficient for the proper assessment using neuropsychological tests. * At least seven years of school from primary school * Signed informed consent

Exclusion criteria

for patients: * Neurological deficit or significant residual disability at inclusion. * Aphasia, agnosia, apraxia or severe neglect, as demonstrated by clinical examination and neuropsychological tests. * Subjects with a contraindication to MRI. * General, neurological or psychiatric progressive disease.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Performance at the SET (Six Elements Test)Day 1Performances of patients with a mediodorsal thalamic infarct in tasks assessing higher order cognition compared to healthy participants. Assessment of multitasking : 6 sub-tasks have to be achieved within 15 minutes. They include arithmetic tasks, image naming tasks, and dictation of a known route. Quantitative scores are derived from quantitative et qualitative data, then interpreted with international normative values.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Performances at the PASAT (Pace Auditory Serial Addition Test) updating during working memoryDay 1Performances of patients with a mediodorsal thalamic infarct in sensitive executive tests compared to healthy participants.The PASAT assesses the updating during working memory.
Performances at the Brown-Petterson taskDay 1Performances of patients with a mediodorsal thalamic infarct in sensitive executive tests compared to healthy participants. The Brown-Petterson task focuses on the management of interference during working memory.

Countries

France

Contacts

Primary ContactJérémie PARIENTE, MD, PHD
jeremie.pariente@inserm.fr05 61 77 76 86

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026