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Brain Stimulation for Parkinson's Disease with Mild Cognitive Impairment

This study is looking at a type of non-invasive brain stimulation called accelerated intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) to see if it's a promising and safe treatment for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in people with Parkinson's disease (PD-MCI). The stimulation is delivered to a specific area of the brain called the right superior parietal lobule (rSPL). We want to see if this treatment is safe and tolerable, and if the study plan is practical. You may be able to join if you are 50-85 years old and have been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and mild cognitive impairment. This study plans to enroll 30 participants, but its current status is unclear.

Study design
This is a single-arm study, meaning all 30 participants will receive the accelerated intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS). The phase of the study is not specified.
What's involved
You will receive accelerated intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) over several days. Safety and tolerability will be checked before and after stimulation sessions on Days 1-3, and the study will last for 8 weeks.
Compensation
Not stated in the trial record.
Follow-up
Safety and tolerability are measured at Week 4, and the feasibility of the study protocol is measured through completion of the study (8 weeks).

AI-generated from the public study record. Only the study team can confirm whether you're eligible — confirm details with them before making decisions.

NCT07701785

Superior Parietal iTBS for PD-MCI

Recruiting
NAAges 50–85InterventionalTreatment
Medical University of South Carolina
~30 participants
Updated 2026-07-14 on ClinicalTrials.gov
What's tested:Accelerated intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) rTMS to right superior parietal lobule (rSPL)

At a glance

Recruiting sites
1 of 1 listed site is recruiting right now
RecruitingSuspended, closed, or not yet open
What they're measuring
Serious Adverse Events
Measured over Week 4, 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after stimulation sessions on Days 1-3
+3 more outcomes measured

Conditions

Parkinson Disease
Mild Cognitive Impairment

Explore related trials

Mild cognitive disorderParkinson Disease

NCT07701785

Where you'd take part

This study runs at 1 site. They're the same protocol — you choose where, and that choice sets who your contact draft is addressed to.

  • Medical University of South Carolina

    Charleston, South Carolinastudy coordinator listed

    Recruiting

Sites open and close at different times, so the status above is per site — it can differ from the study's overall status.

Who to contact

Sam Crowley, PhD
[email protected]
843-792-7767
Email the study team

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Eligibility criteria

Inclusion

50-85 years of age
Diagnosis of Parkinson's disease based on UK Brain Bank diagnostic criteria
Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) diagnosis per Movement Disorders Society Task Force Level II Diagnostic Criteria4 (i.e., scores ≥1.5 standard deviations below appropriate norms on 2 neuropsychological tests) as determined by a clinical neuropsychologist
Stable on Parkinson's disease medications for 30 days (not expected to change through the course of the treatment)
Has a caregiver willing and able to reliably complete a questionnaire focused on the participant's daily functioning

Exclusion

Claustrophobia or inability to lie supine in the scanner for an extended period of time
Barriers to making contact between the TMS coil and the skin (e.g. braids that cannot be removed)
Contraindications to MRI/TMS safety screening: This includes but is not limited to implanted medical devices (e.g., pacemakers), metallic objects or fragments, non-removable hair clips or piercings, and medications that reduce seizure threshold.
Individuals with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and/or active substance abuse disorder.
History of significant or unstable condition/s or treatments for these condition/s that may impact cognition (as determined by the study investigators) such as significant cardiac (e.g. heart failure), infectious (e.g. HIV, urinary tract infection), or metabolic disease (e.g. labile diabetes), cancer (e.g. brain cancer, chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment), developmental disorder (e.g. autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability), or other neurologic disease (e.g. multiple sclerosis, moderate to severe brain injury, seizures).
History of a seizure disorder.

What this trial measures

  • Serious Adverse EventsWeek 4, 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after stimulation sessions on Days 1-3

    Number of serious adverse events experienced by study participants caused by the iTBS protocol

  • Feasibility of the study protocolWeek 0 through completion of study (8 weeks)

    Feasibility will be defined as the proportion of participants enrolled that complete all intervention procedures

  • Tolerability of TMS proceduresWeek 4, 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after stimulation sessions on Days 1-3

    A questionnaire evaluating the presence and severity of commonly experienced side effects of TMS (i.e. headache, pain, scalp irritation, facial twitching, fatigue, fear/anxiety) within the past 24 hours and during stimulation. Ratings will be on a 6-point Likert scale from 0 (no symptoms) to 5 (severe symptoms).

  • Test-retest reliability of the Continuous Temporal Expectancy Test (CTET)Week 0 (4 weeks pre-intervention) to Week 4, Day 1 (30 minutes prior to intervention)

    The CTET is a tablet-administered measure designed to assess sustained attention and distractibility. Participants will be shown a grid with black and white squares on a tablet that rotate after either a longer duration (target stimulus; 1070ms) or a shorter duration (non-target stimulus; 800ms) and must press the screen when they identify a target stimulus. Participants will complete 10 one-minute trials. Half of the trials are performed without a distractor present, and the other half are performed with an audio-video distractor presented on an adjacent laptop screen. The primary outcome is the distractibility score, defined as the difference in latency (in ms) to identifying the target stimulus between distractor and non-distractor trials.