NCT05664412

Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation to Improve Executive Function in 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome

Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation With Starstim Home Device to Improve Executive Function in Youths With 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome: A Randomized Double-blind Sham-controlled Study

• Status: Recruiting
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 40 (estimated)
• Sponsor: Stephan Eliez · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 14 Years – 25 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

The purpose of this project is to explore the effects of transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) in children, adolescents and young adults with a 22q11.2 microdeletion. The main aim of the present research project is to investigate the effects of repeated, individually tuned high-density (HD) tACS on cognition (i.e., WM performance) and related neuroimaging markers in carriers of the 22q11DS. As cognitive deficits, most notably WM impairment, are among the earliest signs of psychotic disorders, interventions during adolescence aimed at reducing cognitive decline in at-risk individuals may prove effective in delaying or even preventing the later emergence of psychotic symptoms.

Detailed description

22q11.2 is the neurogenetic disorder with the highest genetic risk of schizophrenia and early diagnosis allows subjects to be followed from early childhood. Not only does atypical cognitive development precede the emergence of the first psychotic symptoms, but it predicts their later severity and further cognitive decline. Even in subjects which premorbid cognitive functioning is already low due to neurogenetic syndromes, further decline in cognitive abilities indicates an increased risk for the emergence of psychotic symptoms. psychotic symptoms. Thus, early intervention targeting cognition could potentially mitigate the burden of the disease. Individuals carrying the 22q11.2 microdeletion have a distinctive cognitive profile characterized by a dissociation between verbal and visual-spatial memory capacities, supporting a specific deficit in the processing of visuo-spatial information. Memory deficits are therefore a specific weakness of this population. For this reason, we designed a non-invasive brain stimulation protocol to improve visual working memory (WM) in adolescents and young adults with 22q11DS using individual parameters to account for age individual parameters to account for participant age and anatomical variability.

Conditions

• 22Q11 Deletion Syndrome
• tACS

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	at-home tACS using Starstim-Home tES	We will use transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and temporal cortex by adopting a high-density (HD) montage with 3 electrodes to target the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and 3 electrodes to target the temporal cortex. To select individualized parameters for stimulation, we will first acquire and analyse structural MRI (comprising T1 and T2-weighted sequences) and EEG data during a working memory task. We planned one session of HD-tACS per day for 5 consecutive days every week over four weeks; each session will last 21 minutes. All sessions will occur during cognitive training (i.e., execution of a working memory task).

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-10-20
• Primary completion: 2026-12-31
• Completion: 2026-12-31
• First posted: 2022-12-23
• Last updated: 2025-12-02

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Switzerland