Cognitive Ability Training for Seniors With Mild Cognitive Impairment (MICE)

Wuerzburg University Hospital

Status: Withdrawn

Conditions: Mild Cognitive Impairment

Treatments: Device: Verum tDCS; Device: Sham tDCS

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT02940457

Wuerzburg165/16

Details and patient eligibility

About

This study investigates the beneficial effects of prefrontal brain stimulation (with transcranial direct current stimulation [tDCS]) during working memory training in seniors with mild cognitive impairments.The placebo-controlled double blinded study includes 50 elderly patients which will be randomized into verum or sham tDCS.

Full description

In this project, we want to test whether the effectiveness of neuropsychological exercise therapy can be increased in elderly persons suspected of having an MCI by means of parallel tDCS treatment.

All test participants train over 6 sessions within 2 weeks two different working memory tasks with increasing difficulty. In the randomized, double-blind, prospective therapy study, participants are assigned to either a Verum-tDCS or a placebo-tDCS group. The Verum-tDCS group receives active stimulation in parallel to the exercise therapy, while the placebo group does not receive tDCS stimulation. To check the effects of the therapy, we measure performance and neuronal activation in different executive tasks using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Furthermore, we will check whether the training increases the volume of the grey matter (Draganski et al., 2004, Malchow et al., 2016) and the expression of BDNF can be increased (Schuch et al., 2015).

Sex: All

Ages: 50 to 75 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• suspected MCI
• total CERAD score <= 85.1
• MMSE >=24
• native german speaker
• between 50-75 years old
• right handed

Exclusion criteria

• impairment of daily living activities
• psychiatric, neurological diseases
• uncorrected hearing or vision deficits
• actual psychopharmaca intake
• metal parts in the head
• medical electronical implants

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

---

0 participants in 2 patient groups

Verum tDCS

Experimental group

Description:

prefrontal anodal stimulation

Treatment:

Device: Verum tDCS

Sham tDCS

Experimental group

Description:

sham stimulation, same electrode positions

Treatment:

Device: Sham tDCS