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The Treatment of High Intensity Transcranial Current Stimulation for Alzheimer's Disease

Not Applicable
Not yet recruiting
Conditions
Dementia
Alzheimer's Disease
Mild Cognitive Impairment
Interventions
Device: Transcranial alternating current stimulation(sham stimulation)
Device: Transcranial alternating current stimulation(real stimulation)
Registration Number
NCT06380725
Lead Sponsor
Anhui Provincial Hospital
Brief Summary

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by progressive cognitive dysfunction and behavioral impairment. It is currently the most common type of dementia in the old age. At present, the clinical treatment of Alzheimer's disease is expensive and has side effects, so it is very important to explore new methods of treatment for AD. Investigators designed a prospective, randomized, double-blinded and placebo-controlled trial to investigate the effect of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) on cognitive function in AD patients and to assess the biological effectiveness of the treatment.

Detailed Description

As the population is aging, there is an urgent need to develop new methods of treatment for AD. Noninvasive neuro-regulation is a new technique in treating neuropsychiatric diseases. It include transcranial magnetic stimulation, traditional transcranial direct current stimulation, traditional transcranial alternating current stimulation and etc. Previously, conventional transcranial direct current stimulation had shown inconsistent results in the treatment for AD. This may be related to the low current density of traditional electrical stimulation in deep brain areas, such as hippocampus and amygdala, and leading to poor stimulation effect. Compared with the traditional transcranial electrical stimulation technology, the high intensity tACS greatly improves the current intensity, so that the electric field intensity to the deep brain nucleus during stimulation is greatly increased, and it avoids side effects such as burning sensation. Therefore, it could be used for AD patients. However, there are few clinical studies on high intensity tACS on AD, so investigators designed a randomized double-blinded placebo-controlled trial to explore the effect of high-current tACS on AD. At the same time, multimodal functional brain imaging before and after treatment will be used to compare the changes of brain function activation and cerebral hemodynamics in AD.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
NOT_YET_RECRUITING
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
60
Inclusion Criteria
  1. Meet the diagnostic criteria of National Institute on Aging and Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) 2011 for Alzheimer's disease, Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) score is greater than or equal to 0.5 and less than or equal to 1, and amyloid PET imaging is positive.
  2. Have the ability to cooperate with neuropsychological testing, EEG measurement, and MRI examination;
  3. Have willingness to undergo cognitive psychological evaluation;
  4. Do not have cognitive impairment due to other degenerative diseases or viral and immune encephalitis;
  5. The length of schooling is at least 3 years.
Exclusion Criteria
  1. Do not suffer from severe depression, anxiety and other mental illness;
  2. Do not suffer from major diseases such as tumors, heart and lung diseases, nervous system diseases, etc.
  3. Do not have been diagnosed with other dementia such as Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), frontotemporal dementia (FTD), lewy body dementia (DLB), and normal cranial pressure hydrocephalus (NPH).

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
control groupTranscranial alternating current stimulation(sham stimulation)Subjects sit comfortably in a recliner and receive FDA-approved transcranial alternating current stimulation (sham stimulation) with trained operators following standardized instructions. Subjects are advised to relax, drink water, and even sleep, and not communicate with the operator as much as possible.
treatment groupTranscranial alternating current stimulation(real stimulation)Subjects sit comfortably in a recliner and receive FDA-approved transcranial alternating current stimulation (real stimulation) with trained operators following standardized instructions. Subjects are advised to relax, drink water, and even sleep, and not communicate with the operator as much as possible.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Cognitive appraisalA total of 5 times will be measured, before the treatment, immediately after the treatment, 1-, 3- and 6-month follow-ups.

A series of cognitive functions such as verbal function and visuospatial functions will be evaluated by Clock drawing test (maximum score =4, minimum score =0, the higher the better) and Boston Naming Test (maximum score =30, minimum score =0, the higher the better) ect.

Psychobehavioral assessmentA total of 5 times will be measured, before the treatment, immediately after the treatment, 1-, 3- and 6-month follow-ups.

The mental and behavioral states of the patients will be evaluated by Neuropsychiatric Inventory(maximum score =144, minimum score =0, the lower the better) and Hamilton's Depression Scale (maximum score =68, minimum score =0, the lower the better) ect.

Global Cognitive appraisalA total of 5 times will be measured, before the treatment, immediately after the treatment, 1-, 3- and 6-month follow-ups.

Overall cognitive function will be assessed through Clinical Dementia Rating(maximum score =3, minimum score =0, the higher the better) and Minimum Mental State Examination(maximum score =30, minimum score =0, the higher the better) ect.

Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
Magnetic Resonance ImagingA total of 3 measurements, before treatment, immediately after treatment, 1 month follow-up

Brain function before and after treatment will be measured by MRI

Event related potential measurementA total of 5 times will be measured, before the treatment, immediately after the treatment, 1-, 3- and 6-month follow-ups.

Event related potential indicators will be evaluated before and after treatment by electroencephalogram.

Peripheral blood biomarkersA total of 5 times will be measured, before the treatment, immediately after the treatment, 1-, 3- and 6-month follow-ups.

Peripheral blood biomarkers such as the concentration of tau and amyloid protein will be detected by SiMoA before and after treatment

Near-infrared spectroscopyA total of 5 times will be measured, before the treatment, immediately after the treatment, 1-, 3- and 6-month follow-ups.

The brain function of the patients before and after treatment will be assessed by near infrared functional brain imaging

Incidence of side effectsInterviews will be conducted daily after treatment and once at 1-, 3- and 6-month follow-ups.

After daily treatment, the subjects will be interviewed by the investigator, and the possible adverse reactions such as headache and fatigue ect. observed will be collected and recorded in the case report form. After the end of the experiment, investigators will calculate the probability of the occurrence of the side effects observed in the experiment through the case report form in the interview.

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