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Treating Mild Traumatic Brain Injury with Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

This study is looking for military veterans aged 18-75 who have experienced a mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI) and have difficulty with verbal retrieval (finding the right words). The study will test if a low-level electrical stimulation called transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) can improve this memory issue. You would receive either active tDCS or a sham (inactive) tDCS. Researchers will measure your verbal retrieval skills using neuropsychological tests at the beginning, during treatment, and up to three months after treatment to see if tDCS helps. The study aims to enroll 136 participants, but its current status is unclear.

Study design
This study is an interventional study that will randomly assign participants to receive either active transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) or sham tDCS. It plans to enroll 136 participants.
What's involved
Participants will undergo 15 sessions of 20-minute stimulation. You will have assessments at baseline, after sessions 5, 10, and 15, and at 2- and 3-months after treatment.
Compensation
Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up
Participants will be followed for up to 3 months after the treatment period.

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NCT04869059

Treating Mild Traumatic Brain Injury With High Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Recruiting
NAAges 18–75InterventionalTreatment
The University of Texas at Dallas
~136 participants
Updated 2025-09-23 on ClinicalTrials.gov
What's tested:Transcranial direct current stimulationsham tDCS

At a glance

Recruiting sites
1 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now
RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open
What they're measuring
Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 3-months Post-Treatment on the Controlled Oral Word Association Test
Measured over Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 17 weeks: Change from baseline to 3-month Post-Treatment
+9 more outcomes measured

Conditions

Traumatic Brain Injury

Explore related trials

Traumatic Encephalopathy

Where it's being run

1 sites across 1 states
Texas1

Study leadership

  • John Hart, MD · PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR · The University of Texas at Dallas

Who to contact

Ashna Adhikari
[email protected]
972-883-3161
Email the study team

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What this trial measures

  • Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 3-months Post-Treatment on the Controlled Oral Word Association TestOutcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 17 weeks: Change from baseline to 3-month Post-Treatment

    Evaluation of treatment group differences in change on the Control Word Association Test from baseline to 3-months. Metric: Number of Correct Items Generated Benton, L.A., Hamsher, K., \& Sivan, A.B., (1994). Multilingual aphasia examination. Iowa City: AJA Associates.

  • Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 2-months Post-Treatment on the Controlled Oral Word Association TestOutcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 13 weeks: Change from baseline to 2-month Post-Treatment

    Evaluation of treatment group differences in change on the Control Word Association Test from baseline to 2-months. Metric: Number of Correct Items Generated Benton, L.A., Hamsher, K., \& Sivan, A.B., (1994). Multilingual aphasia examination. Iowa City: AJA Associates.

  • Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 3-months Post-Treatment in Category FluencyOutcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 17 weeks: Change from baseline to 3-month Post-Treatment

    Evaluation of treatment group differences in change in Category Fluency from baseline to 3-months. Metric: Number of Correct Items Generated Benton, L.A., Hamsher, K., \& Sivan, A.B., (1994). Multilingual aphasia examination. Iowa City: AJA Associates.

  • Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 2-months Post-Treatment in Category FluencyOutcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 13 weeks: Change from baseline to 2-month Post-Treatment

    Evaluation of treatment group differences in change in Category Fluency from baseline to 2-months. Metric: Number of Correct Items Generated Benton, L.A., Hamsher, K., \& Sivan, A.B., (1994). Multilingual aphasia examination. Iowa City: AJA Associates.

  • Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 3-months Post-Treatment on the Semantic Object Retrieval TestOutcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 17 weeks: Change from baseline to 3-month Post-Treatment

    Evaluation of treatment group differences in change in Semantic Object Retrieval Test from baseline to 3-months. Metric: Number of Correct Retrievals Kaplan, E., Goodglass, H., \& Weintraub, S., (1983). Boston Naming Test (2nd ed.). Lea \& Febiger: Philadelphia.

  • Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 2-months Post-Treatment on the Semantic Object Retrieval TestOutcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 13 weeks: Change from baseline to 2-month Post-Treatment

    Evaluation of treatment group differences in change in Semantic Object Retrieval Test from baseline to 2-months. Metric: Number of Correct Retrievals Kaplan, E., Goodglass, H., \& Weintraub, S., (1983). Boston Naming Test (2nd ed.). Lea \& Febiger: Philadelphia.

  • Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 3-months Post-Treatment on the Boston Naming TestOutcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 17 weeks: Change from baseline to 3-month Post-Treatment

    Evaluation of treatment group differences in change in Boston Naming Test from baseline to 3-months. Metric: Number of Correct Names Retrieved Kraut, M.A., Cherry, B., Pitcock, C.B., Anand, R., Li, J. Vestal, L., Henderson, V.W., and Hart, J. Jr. (2007). The Semantic Object Retrieval Test (SORT) in amnestic cognitive impairment. Cogn. Behav. Neurol. 20, 62- 67.

  • Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 2-months Post-Treatment on the Boston Naming TestOutcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 13 weeks: Change from baseline to 2-month Post-Treatment

    Evaluation of treatment group differences in change in Boston Naming Test from baseline to 2-months. Metric: Number of Correct Names Retrieved Kraut, M.A., Cherry, B., Pitcock, C.B., Anand, R., Li, J. Vestal, L., Henderson, V.W., and Hart, J. Jr. (2007). The Semantic Object Retrieval Test (SORT) in amnestic cognitive impairment. Cogn. Behav. Neurol. 20, 62- 67.

  • Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 3-months Post-Treatment on California Verbal Learning TestOutcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 17 weeks: Change from baseline to 3-month Post-Treatment

    Evaluation of treatment group differences in change in California Verbal Learning Test from baseline to 3-months. Metric: Number of Correct Retrievals Delis DC, Kramer JH, Kaplan E, Ober BA. (2017). California verbal learning test (3rd Ed.). Pearson Publishing: San Antonio, TX.

  • Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 2-months Post-Treatment on California Verbal Learning TestOutcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 13 weeks: Change from baseline to 2-month Post-Treatment

    Evaluation of treatment group differences in change in California Verbal Learning Test from baseline to 2-months. Metric: Number of Correct Retrievals Delis DC, Kramer JH, Kaplan E, Ober BA. (2017). California verbal learning test (3rd Ed.). Pearson Publishing: San Antonio, TX.