Active clinical trials for "Aphasia"

This study was conducted in three phases: The first phase involved creation of a Spanish adaptation of the Melodic Intonation therapy; the second phase consisted of a pilot non-randomized intervention study to analyse its feasibility for use with 4 Spanish patients with poststroke nonfluent aphasia; the third phase consisted of a pilot randomised, crossover, intervention pilot trial in a different set of patients with poststroke nonfluent aphasia (N=20)

Given the evolving uses of technology in rehabilitation, the investigators aimed to measure the change in aphasia severity using PCT App, a digital therapeutic adapted from Constant Therapy (CT), a dynamic, personalized therapy program for people with cognitive, speech, or language disorders. The entire study, including recruitment, enrollment, assessment and treatment were conducted remotely. The proposed pilot study seeks to compare performance of PCT therapy vs. conventional workbook intervention for stroke patients. The investigators hypothesize that the experimental (PCT) group will experience greater gains on the WAB-AQ at follow-up compared to baseline compared to a control (workbook) group. Subjects were prospectively assigned to an experimental or active control group in a random order with both groups balanced for their baseline level of speech, language and/or cognitive ability: Experimental Group: Participants were instructed to use PCT for at least 30 minutes/day, 5 days/week. Performance and usage data were automatically reported by the PCT software to the treating clinician and was used to modify task assignment over time and monitor participant adherence to the treatment program. Active Control Group: Participants were provided with a standard regime of paper workbooks (e.g. Workbook for Aphasia; Brubaker, 2006) that are typically used by clinicians with persons with aphasia (PWA) for at least 30 minutes/day, 5 days/week. Notably, the control procedure employed here is similar to a large-scale study examining technology as a treatment option by Palmer and colleagues (2015). The treatment period was 10 weeks. All participants received a bimonthly check-in through video-chat with a member of the research staff during the treatment period.

The purpose of this study is to establish the feasibility of a program of remotely supervised transcranial direct current stimulation (RS-tDCS) paired with language skills practice for people living with the semantic or logopenic variants of primary progressive aphasia (PPA). There are currently no established standard-of-care treatments for PPA. This study will evaluate whether RS-tDCS combined with language skills practice is a feasible study design for individuals with PPA.

The project will investigate the feasibility and acceptability of a remote support group intervention for people with aphasia, and will investigate the impact of that intervention on measures of wellbeing, quality of life and communication. The intervention will be delivered to 32 participants in Eva Park, a virtual island specifically designed for people with aphasia.

This study aims to determine whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) paired with speech-language therapy is more beneficial than speech-language therapy alone in acute and chronic post-stroke aphasia.

Background and aim There is a growing awareness that people with aphasia (language problems) after a stroke often have difficulties with their short-term memory (STM). As a result, the explanation underlying aphasia has recently been seen as a language processing disorder, where multiple cognitive processes interact. To evaluate the cognitive processes underlying aphasia, there is a need for reliable and valid assessment tools. However, the quality of tests usually used to assess STM problems in aphasia patients is questioned because they are not specifically designed to be used in aphasia patients. This raises some concern, as impairments of STM can be predictive for the recovery and rehabilitation of aphasia patients. As an important exception, a recent study has developed a new English evaluation tool (i.e., The Temple Assessment of Language and (Verbal) Short-term Memory in Aphasia; TALSA) that examines language and STM aspects specifically developed for persons with aphasia. However, the existence of a Dutch evaluation tool specifically designed to assess language and STM problems in people with aphasia after a stroke is lacking. Therefore, the aim of the current study is to develop a Dutch clinical version of the TALSA battery that may lead to better diagnosis and treatment of STM problems in persons with aphasia. The development of the test focuses on its clinical feasibility (e.g. test duration, difficulty of the items and response modality). Pilot testing of the Dutch STM assessment instrument in the clinical and healthy population is very important to adapt the test where necessary. In addition, the quality of the test should also be carefully evaluated. Method The first step towards the development of a Dutch STM assessment instrument is the careful selection of the most crucial subtests of the original TALSA battery. Not all subtests will be selected due to the long testing time of the TALSA battery, and as mentioned earlier, the Dutch STM assessment tool focuses on clinical feasibility of the test. The second step is pilot testing the Dutch STM assessment instrument in persons with aphasia and healthy persons. Persons with aphasia will be recruited at the Stroke unit of Ghent University Hospital. All eligible patients will be asked to provide written informed consent to participate in this study. Three tests will be administered, namely the Oxford Cognitive Screen, the Token Test and the Dutch STM assessment tool. It is important that these tests are taken on the same day or on two consecutive days, depending on the circumstances (e.g. fatigue). The Token Test and Oxford Cognitive Screen provide a picture of the patient's cognitive profile. Throughout the process of pilot testing, the Dutch STM assessment tool will be adapted and improved where necessary. In order to verify or adjust the difficulty of the items, it is crucial that the STM assessment instrument is also tested on a small number of healthy control subjects (recruited via social media platforms).

Many individuals have difficulty with word retrieval, also called anomia, following cerebrovascular accident (CVA). These difficulties impede effective communication in everyday conversations and can negatively impact the resumption of pre-injury activities. Even after rehabilitation specifically targeting these areas, many individuals report persistent difficulties with anomia. Additionally, most individuals report that these difficulties worsen when distracted, fatigued, or when attempting to divide attention between tasks. Given that everyday activities frequently require efficient communication when attention is divided (e.g., walking and talking), it is important to investigate viable interventions to improve these skills. Recovery from CVA and resumption of pre-injury activities is best supported by rehabilitation interventions that are functional and directly related to the tasks individuals aim to resume. For example, a therapy task requiring an individual to generate a grocery list and then go to a grocery store to acquire the items on the list has a greater impact on recovery for the underlying language and cognitive skills than a series of generic language and cognition tasks completed in a therapy room. In addition to this, interventions that incorporate dual-task practices tend to have better outcomes than more traditional single-task practices. The aim of this study is to compare the effectiveness of pairing word retrieval tasks with physical endurance tasks versus presenting them in isolation. Additionally, this study will investigate whether improvements in word retrieval and physical endurance generalize to the functional, everyday task of holding a conversation while walking. The researchers hypothesize that participants will perform better on word retrieval tasks after participating in dual language and physical tasks than after participating in language tasks presented in isolation.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the frequency and duration of postoperative pain are improved in participants receiving a local steroid injection (methylprednisolone) plus a systemic (intravenous (IV, by vein)) steroid (dexamethasone) when compared to those receiving a systemic (IV) steroid (dexamethasone) alone. Both of these steroid injections are already currently used at Rush and are considered standard of practice. It is well established that steroids have an anti-inflammatory (decreased swelling) effect on the soft tissue and it is routinely used in many types of surgery, but it is not known whether two steroids are better than one. The medications provided in this study are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a neurodegenerative condition characterized by a gradual, irreversible decline of language function (Mesulam, 2001). There are no known treatments for PPA so far. The relentless progression of PPA symptoms eventually leads to a profound impairment in communication ability and, ultimately, to more generalized deficits of cognition. Some cases and small studies reported that Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS), one of the non-invasive neuromodulation tech, can be employed to facilitate language production and improve the language ability in patients with PPA. Herein we will explore the tolerance and efficacy of TMS for the treatment of PPA by the randomized controlled trial .Meanwhile the functional MRI tech will be used to investigate the neural network changing in the procedure

The study is designed to determine whether there are clinical features that can be used as biomarkers to predict whether underlying Alzheimer's pathology is the cause of a speech and language based dementia. The primary hypothesis is that the proportion of patients who test positive for beta-amyloid deposition will vary across different speech and language based dementias.