NCT04188067Completed
TMS for the Treatment of Primary Progressive Aphasia
TMS in Primary Progressive Aphasia: Modulation of Brain Networks and Language
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Last updated 1 Apr 2026
Brief summary (registry, in English)
Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) is a progressive syndrome in the family of Alzheimer's disease and related disorders involving devastating language impairments caused by selective neurodegeneration of the brain's language network. Unfortunately, there is no treatment for PPA. An exciting possibility for treatment is non-invasive repetitive transcranial brain stimulation (rTMS), which induces electric currents in degenerating brain networks, making them in some cases more efficient. Therapeutic benefits from rTMS have been demonstrated when it is applied in many sequential sessions. For example, repeated sessions of rTMS to left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is approved by the US Food and Drug administration as a treatment for major depressive disorder. With respect to language, high frequency rTMS increases the response rate for picture naming in healthy individuals and in patients with Alzheimer's disease. Further, in a sham controlled study, Cotelli and colleagues demonstrated that in a group of 10 non-fluent PPA patients, high frequency rTMS over the left and right dlPFC improved the percent of correct responses for action naming. When rTMS was applied for five consecutive days in a sham controlled single case study, Finocchiaro and colleagues showed lasting improvements in language (up to 1 week) in a patient with non-fluent PPA. Trebbastoni and colleagues further showed the same lasting improvements in language (up to 1 week) in a patient with logopenic PPA. Recently, in a sham controlled single case study, Bereau and colleagues applied a more intense rTMS protocol for ten consecutive days and demonstrated significant linguistic improvements in a logopenic PPA patient that lasted for 1 month. These studies have contributed valuable insights into the potential use of rTMS in treating the language symptoms of PPA patients.
- Status (registry)
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Enrollment
- 10 (actual)
- First submitted
- 2 Dec 2019
- Start date
- 1 Mar 2022
- Primary completion date
- 25 Aug 2024
- Lead sponsor
- Massachusetts General Hospital
- Diseases
- Frontotemporal dementia
- NCT number
- NCT04188067
What you commit to
- Study type: Interventional
- Participants enrolled: 10
- From 1 Mar 2022 to the primary completion date, 25 Aug 2024
- 1 site in 1 country
- Visits and tests: ask the trial team, the registry does not list them
Built from the registry fields of ClinicalTrials.gov. It describes the study, not your situation.
Who cannot take part
Copied verbatim from ClinicalTrials.gov and grouped by topic. Only the trial team decides who can take part.
Prior treatment
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) evidence of significant cerebrovascular disease, hydrocephalus or the presence of a space-occupying intra-cranial mass.
- Contraindications to MRI or repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) including: cardiac pacemaker or pacemaker wires, neurostimulators, implanted pumps, metal in the body (rods, plates, screws, shrapnel, dentures, intrauterine device), surgical aneurysm clips in the head, previous neurosurgery or cochlear implants.
Other illness
- Any history of seizures, unexplained loss of consciousness or a first-degree family member with epilepsy.
- Any history of significant co-occurring neurological illness unrelated to neurodegeneration associated with PPA (e.g. multiple sclerosis), or significant medical problems (e.g. poorly controlled diabetes/hypertension or cancer within 5 years).
- Active symptoms of major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, substance use disorder or significant premorbid intellectual disability according to Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM-5) criteria.
Age
- In line with published Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Institutional Review Board (IRB) guidelines for rTMS, pregnancy must be ruled out by urine ß-Human Chorionic Gonadotropin if answers to screening questions suggest that pregnancy is possible and if female participants are premenopausal and of child-bearing age. Subjects will not be able to enroll if they are breastfeeding.
Who the study is looking for
- Patients, age 18-90, who carry a diagnosis of either the logopenic (lvPPA), agrammatic non-fluent (nfvPPA) or semantic (svPPA) variants of Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA). Patients must have been observed for at least one year by a specialized clinician.
- Patients must have at least mild to moderate language impairment.
- Patients must be native English speakers.
- Patients must have a study partner (e.g. spouse, sibling or adult child) who can accompany them to every study visit.
Age in the registry: 18 years to 90 years · Sex: All · Does not accept healthy volunteers
Sites (1)
Sites in registry order. Pick your city on the disease page to sort them by distance.
| Site | City | Country | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Massachusetts General Hospital Coordinator of this site? Confirm its status | Boston | United States | Unknown status |
This page is information, not medical advice. Discuss any trial with your doctor.