NCT03775915

Neurofeedback for Stroke Rehabilitation

The Use of Real-Time fMRI and a Mobile EEG System to Provide Neurofeedback to Stroke Patients to Promote Neural Plasticity for Motor Rehabilitation.

• Status: Terminated
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 27 (actual)
• Sponsor: University of Oxford · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Real-time neurofeedback aims to alter brain activation patterns through online feedback of ongoing brain activity using magnetic resonance imagining (MRI). Stroke survivors will be randomised to receive 3 sessions of real or sham neurofeedback. This study aims to investigate whether: 1) stroke survivors can maintain alterations in brain activity after the feedback is removed, 2) neurofeedback training leads to improvements in movement of the hand and arm, 3) neurofeedback training leads to changes in brain structure and function, 4) variability in response across people can be understood.

Detailed description

Many stroke survivors experience impairment in upper limb function, reducing independence in activities of daily living. These impairments are associated with atypical brain activity patterns. Real-time neurofeedback aims to alter brain activation patterns through online feedback of ongoing brain activity using magnetic resonance imagining (MRI). Patterns of brain activity are displayed to a participant while a task is being performed. The participant is instructed to try to alter the patterns in a particular way, promoting specific brain activity patterns. Previous studies have found that people with and without stroke are capable of utilising the feedback to alter their brain activity. This study aims to investigate whether: 1. stroke survivors can maintain alterations in brain activity after the feedback is removed 2. neurofeedback training leads to improvements in movement of the hand and arm 3. neurofeedback training leads to changes in brain structure and function 4. variability in response across people can be understood. 30 stroke survivors (\> 6 months after stroke), with residual upper limb impairment, will be recruited between February 2018 and December 2020. Participants will be randomised to receive 3 sessions of real or sham neurofeedback over one week, taking place at the Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, University of Oxford. Changes in brain activity during affected hand movements will be assessed with and without feedback using functional MRI and after feedback sessions using electroencephalography (EEG). Brain connectivity and structure will also be assessed using MRI at baseline and at a follow-up one week later. Clinical measures of upper limb function and impairment will be performed at baseline and at follow up sessions one week and one month later (Action Research Arm Test, Fugl-Meyer upper limb assessment, Jebsen Taylor hand function test), and in each session following neurofeedback (Jebsen taylor test).

Conditions

• Stroke

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Neurofeedback	A visual representation of the participants brain activity during movement of their affected hand in the MRI scanner.
OTHER	Sham Neurofeedback	A visual representation of brain activity pre-recorded from a previous participant

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-02-09
• Primary completion: 2020-03-20
• Completion: 2020-03-20
• First posted: 2018-12-14
• Last updated: 2023-06-13
• Results posted: 2021-08-13

Locations

1 site across 1 country: United Kingdom