Clinical trial NCT00957710: Language Treatment for Progressive Aphasia
Official title: Slowing Language Decline in Progressive Aphasia Through Language Rehabilitation: Treatment and Neuroimaging Study
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Primary Progressive Aphasia
Nonfluent Progressive Aphasia
Semantic Dementia
Keywords: progressive aphasia
semantic dementia
neuroimaging
treatment
errorless learning
Lead sponsor: Baycrest
Sponsor class: OTHER
Collaborators: name: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
First posted: 2009-08-12
Enrollment: 7
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 40
Maximum age (years): 80
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP

Brief summary: Progressive aphasia is characterized by a steady and progressive loss of language skills in the presence of relatively preserved memory, attention, and thinking. The aim of this study is to slow the progression of language decline in progressive aphasia via language therapy. The first goal of this study is to improve naming abilities of individuals with progressive aphasia. This will be accomplished by carrying out an intensive treatment program for anomia. The second goal is to evaluate whether this intense language treatment re-activates affected areas and/or connections within the language network, using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (to measure neural activity in specific brain regions) and Diffusion Tensor Imaging tractography (to measure the connectivity between specific brain regions). This is the first study on progressive aphasia addressing both treatment and imaging in the same patients.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

* Diagnosis of progressive aphasia
* Native English speaker or fluent in English
* Adequate hearing and vision (not requiring more than +6 diopter correction)
* Willing and able to participate in each phase of the study (including two fMRI sessions)

Exclusion Criteria:

* Contraindications to fMRI (e.g., claustrophobia, pacemaker, ferromagnetic implant)
* Current medical or psychiatric condition affecting cognition (other than progressive aphasia)

Primary outcomes:
measure: Accuracy of picture naming
timeFrame: 3 months
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Changes on neuroimaging
timeFrame: 3 months
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Toronto
country: Canada
facility: Baycrest
state: Ontario
Study officials:
affiliation: Baycrest
name: Regina Jokel, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Jokel R, Rochon E, Anderson ND. Errorless learning of computer-generated words in a patient with semantic dementia. Neuropsychol Rehabil. 2010 Jan;20(1):16-41. doi: 10.1080/09602010902879859.
citation: Jokel R, Rochon E, Leonard C. Treating anomia in semantic dementia: improvement, maintenance, or both? Neuropsychol Rehabil. 2006 Jun;16(3):241-56. doi: 10.1080/09602010500176757.
citation: Jokel R, Rochon E, Leonard C. Therapy for anomia in semantic dementia. Brain Cogn. 2002 Jul;49(2):241-4.
citation: Jokel R, Cupit J, Rochon E, Leonard C. Relearning lost vocabulary in nonfluent progressive aphasia with Mosstalk Words. Aphasiology 23(2): 175-191, 2009