Active clinical trials for "Aphasia, Broca"

The purpose of this study is to determine whether VR based language rehabilitation scenario based on the core premises of ILAT has a beneficial effect on the linguistic performance (faster retrieval of the target lexicon and general fluency) of Broca's aphasia patients. Furthermore, it aims at testing the effects of cueing (visual and auditory) on word retrieval.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of treatment for specific language deficits in people with aphasia. In addition to language and cognitive measures, changes in brain function will also be gathered before and after the treatment is administered in order to track any changes resulting from receiving treatment.

The purpose of this study is the development and validation of an evidence-based mobile application, based on the core premises of Intensive Language-Action Therapy (ILAT) for aphasia, for the training and improvement of chronic aphasia patients administered at the patient's home. It aims at testing the beneficial effect on the linguistic performance (as assessed by the Barcelona and CAL clinical tests) counteracting learned non-use and the usability of the application as a tool for training once discharged from hospital care.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the medication levodopa, in combination with speech-language treatment, on the language outcome of study subjects with nonfluent aphasia (i.e. difficulty with the comprehension and expression of spoken and written language) following a stroke.

Cognitive impairment after stroke is common and has a major effect on morbidity and quality of life. Acetylcholinesterase inhibitors have demonstrated benefit in vascular dementia, but efficacy in treating more circumscribed cognitive deficits following stroke, such as aphasia, has not been systematically investigated. This study evaluated the efficacy of Galantamine (Reminyl) in subjects with chronic, stable non-fluent aphasia secondary to stroke. Subjects enrolled in a double-blind placebo- controlled cross-over study that employed a comprehensive battery of language tests and measures of general cognitive and behavioral status that will be used to control for factors that may influence language functioning. The primary study outcome was a within-subject comparison of changes in language function and behavioral scores between placebo and active-treatment phases (12 weeks each). Our hypothesis was that by increasing acetylcholine levels, and facilitating activity of other neurotransmitters affecting attentional systems, Galantamine would produce gains in both language and behavioral scores in patients suffering chronic effects in cognitive systems due to injury following stroke.

The primary objective of this feasibility study is to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of targeted sub-threshold epidural cortical stimulation delivered concurrent with speech-language rehabilitation activities to enhance recovery in study subjects suffering from Broca's aphasia (the inability to speak or to organize the muscular movements for speech), following a stroke.

Many stroke survivors experience aphasia, a loss or impairment of language affecting the production or understanding of speech. One common type of aphasia is known as non-fluent aphasia. Patients with non-fluent aphasia have difficulty formulating grammatical sentences, often producing short word fragments despite having a good understanding of what others are trying to communicate to them. Speech language pathologists (SLPs) play a central role rehabilitating persons with aphasia and administer therapy in an attempt to improve communication skills. Despite standard therapy, approximately 50% of individuals who experience aphasia acutely continue to have language deficits more than 6 months post-stroke. In most people, Broca's area is dominant in the left side of the brain. Following a left-sided stroke, the right-sided homologue of Broca's area (the pars triangularis), may adopt language function. Unfortunately, reorganizing language to the right side of the brain seems to be less effective than restoring function to the left hemisphere. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a form of non-invasive brain stimulation, can be used to suppress activity of specific regions in the right side of the brain to promote recovery of function in the perilesional area. Despite preliminary success in existing studies using rTMS in post-stroke aphasia, there is much work to be done to better understand the mechanisms underlying recovery. Responses to rTMS have been positive, yet heterogenous, which may be related to timing of treatments following stroke.

Many stroke survivors experience aphasia, a loss or impairment of language affecting the production or understanding of speech. One common type of aphasia is known as non-fluent aphasia. Patients with non-fluent aphasia have difficulty formulating grammatical sentences, often producing short word fragments despite having a good understanding of what others are trying to communicate to them. Speech language pathologists (SLPs) play a central role rehabilitating persons with aphasia and administer therapy in an attempt to improve communication skills. Despite standard therapy, approximately 50% of individuals who experience aphasia acutely continue to have language deficits more than 6 months post-stroke. In most people, Broca's area is dominant in the left side of the brain. Following a left-sided stroke, the right-sided homologue of Broca's area (the pars triangularis), may adopt language function. Unfortunately, reorganizing language to the right side of the brain seems to be less effective than restoring function to the left hemisphere. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), a form of non-invasive brain stimulation, can be used to suppress activity of specific regions in the right side of the brain to promote recovery of function in the perilesional area. Despite preliminary success in existing studies using rTMS in post-stroke aphasia, there is much work to be done to better understand the mechanisms underlying recovery. Responses to rTMS have been positive, yet heterogenous, which may be related to timing of treatments following stroke.

The primary objective of the study is to obtain preliminary safety and tolerability data with davunetide (NAP, AL-108) in patients with a tauopathy (frontotemporal lobar degeneration [FTLD] with predicted tau pathology, corticobasal degeneration syndrome [CBS] or progressive supranuclear palsy [PSP]). The secondary objectives of this study are to obtain preliminary data on short term changes (at 12 weeks) in a variety of clinical, functional and biomarker measurements from baseline, including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tau levels, eye movements, and brain MRI measurements.

We are doing this clinical trial in order to evaluate two different treatments for non-fluent aphasia: Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) and Speech Repetition Therapy (SRT). MIT uses a simple form of singing, while SRT uses intensive repetition of a set of words and phrases. We want to see which intensive form of treatment is more effective in leading to an improvement in speech output compared to a no-therapy control period, and whether either treatment can cause changes in brain activity during speaking and changes in brain structure. We will use a technique known as functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to measure blood flow changes in the brain and structural MRI that assess brain anatomy and connections between brain regions. We will use fMRI to assess brain activity while a patient speaks, sings, and hums. We will assess changes in brain activity and in brain structure by comparing scans done prior to treatment to scans obtained after treatment and we will also examine changes between treatment groups. We will correlate changes in brain activity and brain structure with changes in language test scores.