Effects of tACS Combined With CCT for Patients With MCI

Shanghai Mental Health Center

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Mild Cognitive Impairment

Treatments: Device: Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation; Behavioral: Cognitive Training

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04135742

2019-24R

Details and patient eligibility

About

This goal of this study is to explore the effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation(tACS) combined with computerized cognitive training(CCT) on improving cognition for patients with mild cognitive impairment(MCI). The study will recruit 195 patients with MCI. Participants will undergo baseline cognitve assessment, EEG and structural and functional MRI. Participants will be randomized to active tACS+CCT group, sham tACS+CCT group and active tACS+sham CCT group. At the end of the intervention, 3-month, 6-month and 12-month follow-up, all subjects will repeat the baseline assessments.

Full description

tACS is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that uses a low-intensity alternating current (1 to 2 mA) to apply a sinusoidal current to the scalp, directly interacting with the oscillating cortical activity at a given frequency with a given stimulus intensity. Studies have shown that simultaneous tACS on the left prefrontal lobe and left temporal lobe can significantly improve working memory in healthy older adults. The 40 Hz tACS is gamma oscillation, and more and more studies have pointed out that gamma oscillation regulation disorder is associated with impaired working memory function.CCT can improve the cognition in patients with MCI. We hypothesized that tACS combined with CCT can produce synergistic effects in sensitive brain areas.

Enrollment: 195 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 60 to 95 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• (1)age ≥ 60 years old with memory impairment; (2) the memory test scores are lower 1.5 SD than the normal control; (3) in addition to memory impairment, other cognitive functions remain relatively intact or only slightly impaired; (4) normal daily living ability; (5) can not reach the diagnostic criteria for dementia, Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) is 0.5

Exclusion criteria

• (1) serious medical diseases such as hypertension, heart disease, severe liver disease, etc.; (2) central nervous system diseases such as cerebrovascular diseases, infectious encephalopathy, brain tumors, etc.; (3) severe depression, schizophrenia and patients who have taken psychotropic substances for a long time; (4) Alzheimer's disease and vascular dementia; (5) history of alcohol dependence and other psychoactive substance abuse; (6) patients with contraindications for magnetic resonance imaging; (7) cannot complete the cognitive function tests for various conditions

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Quadruple Blind

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195 participants in 3 patient groups

active tACS+ Cognitive Training group

Experimental group

Description:

Subjects will receive CCT for a period of 3 months, 24 times, twice a week for 20 minutes each time. Placement of stimuli electrodes will be: a) active electrode over the left DLPFC (F3), and b) reference electrode over the right parietal region (P4). The exact location of electrodes will be determined by the 10/20 EEG method with EEG cap. Subjects will have 24 tACS sessions for three months, twice a week.The active tACS group will be stimulated with a 2 mA,40Hz current for 20 minutes each time during the stimulation.

Treatment:

Device: Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation

Behavioral: Cognitive Training

sham tACS+Cognitive Training group

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Subjects will receive CCT for a period of 3 months, 24 times, twice a week for 20 minutes each time. Placement of stimuli electrodes will be: a) active electrode over the left DLPFC (F3), and b) reference electrode over the right parietal region (P4). The exact location of electrodes will be determined by the 10/20 EEG method with EEG cap. Subjects will have 24 tACS sessions for three months, twice a week.The sham tACS group will have stimulation lasting only 40 seconds though the electrodes will remain in place for 20 min.

Treatment:

Behavioral: Cognitive Training

active tACS+ sham Cognitive Training group

Sham Comparator group

Description:

Subjects will watch neutral pictures on iPad for a period of 3 months, 24 times, twice a week for 20 minutes each time. Placement of stimuli electrodes will be: a) active electrode over the left DLPFC (F3), and b) reference electrode over the right parietal region (P4). The exact location of electrodes will be determined by the 10/20 EEG method with EEG cap. Subjects will have 24 tACS sessions for three months, twice a week.The active tACS group will be stimulated with a 2 mA,40Hz current for 20 minutes each time during the stimulation.

Treatment:

Device: Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation