Cerebellar Brain Stimulation Plus Language Therapy for Aphasia After Stroke
Tests mild cerebellar stimulation with language therapy in stroke survivors predicted to recover poorly.
Plain-language title generated from the registry record
Registry title: Cerebellar Brain Stimulation Plus Language Therapy for People at Risk of Poor Aphasia Recovery After Stroke
Key facts
- Where
- Baltimore, United StatesSee the site
Where in United States
- The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Phipps BuildingBaltimore, United StatesNo longer taking part
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Trial details
- Who runs it
- Johns Hopkins University
- Trial code
- NCT07912242
- Record updated
- 3 November 2026
- Original description
This pilot study tests whether a mild form of brain stimulation to the cerebellum, combined with computer-based language therapy, helps people recover language after a stroke when a poor natural recovery is predicted.Read full original descriptionShow less
Predicting Aphasia Recovery and Testing Cerebellar Neuromodulation (PART-CN): A Pilot Wait-List Randomized Trial of Cathodal Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Plus Computerized Language Therapy in Stroke Survivors Predicted to Have Poor Language Recovery
This pilot study tests whether a mild form of brain stimulation to the cerebellum, combined with computer-based language therapy, helps people recover language after a stroke when a poor natural recovery is predicted.
People already taking part in a Johns Hopkins study of stroke and language recovery, whose early data suggest the aphasia is unlikely to resolve without treatment, are invited about 3 months after the stroke. Half begin 15 treatment sessions right away and half begin about 3 months later. Each session pairs 25 minutes of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right cerebellum with 45 to 60 minutes of language exercises, with a speech-language pathologist present.
The main question is whether language ability, measured with the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised Aphasia Quotient, improves more by 6 months after stroke in the group treated first than in the group still waiting. The study also checks how accurately a machine learning model, built from data collected in the first days after stroke, predicted each person's language ability 12 months after stroke.
Inclusion: Enrolled in the Johns Hopkins longitudinal stroke and aphasia study (IRB NA_00042097); Consented to future contact for research studies; Predicted to have poor language recovery from acute-phase data, defined as a predicted Western Aphasia Battery-Revised Aphasia Quotient below 93.8 at 12 months post-stroke; Ischemic left hemisphere stroke; Aphasia with naming impairment on the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised; Approaching 3 months post-stroke at enrollment; Fluent speaker of English by self-report; Age 18 or older.
Exclusion: Previous neurological disorder other than stroke affecting the brain, or any neurodegenerative or psychiatric disorder; Seizures during the previous 6 months; Use of medications that lower the seizure threshold (e.g., methylphenidate); History of brain surgery or any metal in the head; Lesion in the right cerebellum; Uncorrected visual or hearing loss by self-report; Use of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonists (e.g., memantine); Severely impaired auditory comprehension (below 2 on the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised Auditory Verbal Comprehension sub-score); Severely limited verbal output (below 2 on the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised Spontaneous Speech rating).