Effects of Neurofeedback Training on Attentional Deficits in Patients with Acquired Brain Injury (NeMoRe)

Hospitales Nisa

Status: Active, not recruiting

Conditions: Brain Injuries; Attention Disorder

Treatments: Behavioral: Standard cognitive therapy; Behavioral: Neurofeedback training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT06863025

NeMoRe

Details and patient eligibility

About

The goal of this study is to investigate new neuromodulation therapies for attention deficits following acquired brain injury. Brain damage can affect various domains, including motor and cognitive functions. However, cognitive deficits have many consequences on the functionality and independence of patients, and attention is an essential requirement for most of daily activities. After brain damage, cognitive rehabilitation is generally the first treatment option for attention deficits. Some studies have shown that cognitive rehabilitation is sometimes not very effective.

For this reason, new therapies such as neuromodulation techniques are being investigated. Neurofeedback is a non-invasive neuromodulation therapy involving a type of computer-based training and learning, and some studies have shown that it is a promising tool to treat cognitive deficits in patients with brain injuries.

In the present study, the investigators will evaluate the effects of neurofeedback as a therapy for attentional deficits after brain injury. Participants undergoing neurofeedback and cognitive therapy will be compared to participants only receiving cognitive therapy.

Enrollment: 30 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18 to 85 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• ≥18 years old
• ABI resulting from TBI, stroke, hypoxia and other etiologies
• attentional deficits that are among the objectives of neurorehabilitation as established by the clinical team (scores falling in the 90% percentiles on the Conner's Continuous Performance - CCPT, on the Digit and Spatial Span Tasks and Color Trail test)
• good cognitive condition (ie., scores of ≥23 in the Mini Mental State Examination
• MMSE or ≥75 in the Galveston Orientation & Amnesia Test - GOAT)

Exclusion criteria

• previous report of psychiatric and/or neurologic disorders
• contraindication to computerized activities
• blindness or severe visual impairments

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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30 participants in 2 patient groups

Neurofeedback

Experimental group

Description:

This group will receive 12 sessions of neurofeedback (20 minutes each session) targeting beta and theta. The neurofeedback protocol will aim at increasing frequencies between 16-25 and decreasing 4-7 Hz

Treatment:

Behavioral: Neurofeedback training

Control

Active Comparator group

Description:

This group will receive 12 sessions of standard practice cognitive therapy (20 minutes each session) targeting attentional deficits.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Standard cognitive therapy