Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation for Hand Function Recovery

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Status: Unknown

Conditions: Stroke

Treatments: Device: tACS

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04638192

2017.663

Details and patient eligibility

About

tACS has the potential to directly induce cortical alterations in the intrinsic neural oscillation at specific frequencies, and the brain could mirror the induced frequencies of the external source of oscillations from the stimulation. Hence, tACS with matching stimulation frequency could be an effective means of enhancing brain oscillatory activity to potentially induce synaptic plasticity for restoration of damaged brain functions. However from the existing studies of applying tACS over the M1 in healthy and diseased brains, there is a wide range of applied stimulation frequencies and varied neuromodulation effects on motor behavior or cortical excitability at different frequencies. In this proposal, subject-specific stimulation frequency and latency will be identified.

Enrollment: 50 estimated patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Hemiparesis subsequent to first-ever unilateral stroke for more than 6 months;
• MCP and PIP finger joints can be extended to 180° passively;
• Sufficient cognition to follow the experimental instructions

Exclusion criteria

• Severe hand spasticity or hand deformity;
• History of alcohol or drug abuse or epilepsy;
• Bilateral brain infarcts;
• Severe cognitive deficits;
• Comprehensive aphasia;
• Contraindications to tACS and MRI

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Double Blind

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50 participants in 3 patient groups

subject-specific tACS

Experimental group

Description:

Constant current (1mA) will be applied for 20min at subject-specific stimulation frequency and latency

Treatment:

Device: tACS

standard tACS

Experimental group

Description:

Constant current (1mA) will be applied for 20min at 20Hz with a fixed 25ms latency

Treatment:

Device: tACS

Sham tACS

Sham Comparator group

Description:

The stimulator will be shut down after 30s of stimulation. The patients will feel the initial itching sensation at the beginning in order to evaluate the placebo effect

Treatment:

Device: tACS