NCT05200962

Electrical Brain Stimulation for Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia: a tDCS-fMRI Study

Investigating the Mechanism of Action of Electrical Brain Stimulation for Cognitive Impairment in Schizophrenia: a tDCS-fMRI Study

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: Phase 1
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (estimated)
• Sponsor: The National Brain Mapping Laboratory (NBML) · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years – 50 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mechanism of action of transcranial electrical brain stimulation over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for cognitive impairment in schizophrenia. To do so the effect of a 3-mA stimulation protocol on neurocognitive functions will be investigated using behavioral performance and fMRI.

Detailed description

Thirty schizophrenic patients will be recruited after meeting the inclusion criteria and will be randomly assigned to active and sham stimulation groups. A single session of concurrent prefrontal tDCS/fMRI will be conducted. Participants will undergo baseline task performance before the intervention. One week later, they will undergo the tDCS intervention (active or sham) next to the scanner during which they perform the working memory task varying in cognitive load. They will perform the task 24 h later again. They will be then transferred to MRI scanner right after stimulation

Conditions

• Schizophrenia
• Cognitive Impairment

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	transcranial direct current stimulation	In tDCS, direct electrical currents are generated by an electrical stimulator and are noninvasively delivered to the scalp through a pair of saline-soaked sponge electrodes (7×5 cm).

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-02-01
• Primary completion: 2024-05-30
• Completion: 2024-08-01
• First posted: 2022-01-21
• Last updated: 2023-11-13

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Iran