Conditions: Stroke Cerebrovascular Accident Hemiparesis
Keywords: stroke CVA cerebrovascular accident hemiparesis impairment motor recovery neuroplasticity nuvigil armodafinil
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 19
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
Armodafinil is an FDA approved medication with wakefulness-promoting properties. It is a relatively safe agent with interesting neurochemical effects on the catecholamine system, producing an improvement in cognitive function, particularly working memory in humans. When combined with intensive task-related training, armodafinil may accelerate motor recovery in chronic stroke patients.

The primary aim of this study is to determine whether administration of armodafinil during subacute post-stroke rehabilitation will augment cortical plasticity and enhance motor recovery. The primary hypothesis suggests that cortical plasticity will be enhanced by armodafinil and, therefore, will induce an improvement in motor function and better performances on measures of motor control.

Detailed description:

Arms:
arm 1: 150 mg armodafinil administered 2 hours prior to start of therapeutic regimen for 10 consecutive days arm 2: inactive agent administered 2 hours prior to start of therapeutic regimen for 10 consecutive days

Interventions: intervention 1: Armodafinil intervention 2: Placebo
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: None intervention 2: inactive pill manufactured to mimic Armodafinil 150 mg tablet

Protocol document: