REMAP Post-Stroke Aphasia Trial
Summary
A stroke is a form of brain damage caused by a disruption or change in blood flow. If language areas in the brain are damaged, patients will have problems with the production or understanding of speech, called aphasia. Aphasia is very distressful and can lead to decreased mental health and quality of life. Current rehabilitation practices for aphasia can help patients, but language recovery is usually incomplete.
In most people, the left side of the brain contains the center for language production – Broca’s area. When someone suffers a stroke on the left side of the brain, the brain attempts to rewire itself so the right side can produce speech. But, this does not work very well. Thus, it is believed that recovery of speech after stroke is dependent on restoring function in Broca’s area on the left side of the brain.
Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a form of brain stimulation that allows us to turn down activity in parts of the brain. With TMS, we can prevent inappropriate activity in the right side of the brain and promote repair of the left side of the brain in patients with aphasia. Evidence suggests that combining TMS with intensive speech therapy may yield even greater improvements than speech therapy alone. The goal of this project is to study whether TMS with intensive language therapy can improve post-stroke aphasia. This is an exciting area of research for stroke survivors with aphasia since these individuals are difficult to rehabilitate and TMS may improve therapy outcomes.
Eligibility
Eligible gender: Male, Female, Transgender, Other
Eligible ages: 18 to 99
Inclusion criteria:
Stroke survivors who:
1) are age 18 or older;
2) had a left hemisphere stroke;
3) have non-fluent aphasia [determined by a speech-language pathologist];
4) speak English as their first or primary language;
Exclusion criteria:
You are not eligible to participate if you:
1) had a previous stroke in your right frontal lobe
2) have a current diagnosis of moderate to severe depression
3) have a history of any other neurological disorders (e.g., epilepsy, brain tumor)
4) cannot undergo an MRI (e.g., metal in the head, pacemaker, or claustrophobia)
5) have received intensive speech therapy within the past 6 months (>8hrs per week)
6) are currently enrolled in another interventional study
Participate
Additional information
Contact information
Trevor Low MD/PhD Candidate Stroke Robotics and Recovery Laboratory Cumming School of Medicine
Principal investigator:
Sean Dukelow
Clinical trial:
Yes
REB-ID:
REB19-0829