Learning Study: Improving Vision in Adults With Macular Degeneration

Brief summary (registry, in English)

The purpose of this study is to test whether a kind of brain stimulation called anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) can be combined with perceptual learning to improve the ability of people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or juvenile macular degeneration (JMD) to read words presented to them on a computer screen better than if perceptual learning alone were used. In addition, secondary measures of visual acuity will also be examined to determine whether brain stimulation can allow patients to resolve finer details of an image. The proposed treatment is the application of a-tDCS onto the participant's head, with brain stimulation aimed at Primary Visual Cortex toward the occipital pole, while patients undergo six separate sessions of training. The investigators will test the ability of participants to read words before the start of the training sessions (pre test) and after the completion of all training sessions (post test). This is a between-subjects design, and half of the participants will receive true stimulation, and the other half will receive sham stimulation. The difference between the pre and post tests when receiving active stimulation will be compared to the difference when receiving sham stimulation, because the sham stimulation is not expected to influence reading beyond a placebo. The aim of the study is to examine the potential of concurrent brain stimulation and perceptual learning as an effective treatment for macular degeneration that may be used in conjunction with more traditional eye-based interventions. The investigators hypothesize that the brain stimulation will enable higher performance in the reading task after and secondary measures after perceptual training due to an increase in the cortical excitability of the stimulated brain cells.

What you commit to

• Study type: Interventional
• Planned participants: 30
• From 13 Feb 2021 to the primary completion date, Dec 2026
• 2 sites in 2 countries
• 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.

Who the study is looking for

Age in the registry: 18 years to - · Sex: All · Does not accept healthy volunteers

Full criteria on ClinicalTrials.gov

Sites (2)

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