An interventional study of Active transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) in Stroke, Aphasia, Acquired and Aphasia, sponsored by University of Pennsylvania. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 85 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-08-24.
Sponsored by University of Pennsylvania · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
The goal of this study is to see if transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) can be used to enhance language abilities in people with post-stroke aphasia. Participants will receive real and sham tACS in conjunction with various language tests. Researchers will compare the post-stroke aphasia group with aged matched controls to see if brain response to tACS differs between groups.
This research will investigate whether transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS), a form of noninvasive brain stimulation, can be used to enhance language abilities in people with aphasia (PWA) due to stroke and healthy older adults when compared to placebo (sham) tACS. The investigators hypothesize that alpha vs. sham tACS will improve language abilities. In addition, the investigators propose that alpha vs. sham tACS will increase local alpha power as well as alpha-induced functional connectivity, and the degree to which alpha tACS increases will be related to the degree of language performance improvement. Finally, the investigators hypothesize that PWA will exhibit abnormalities in alpha-related activity when compared to matched controls, and aphasia severity will be associated with the degree of PWA dysfunction in alpha power and alpha-driven functional connectivity.
8,255 studies on the registry are indexed under Stroke; 2,056 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 120 is above the median of 49 across 6,024 interventional studies indexed under Stroke.
Browse Stroke studies →University of Pennsylvania is the lead sponsor of 1,668 studies on the registry; 235 are open to participants now.
Of its 158 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 109 (69%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Inclusion Criteria for Persons with Aphasia:
Inclusion Criteria for Healthy Controls:
Exclusion criteria for Persons with Aphasia:
Exclusion Criteria for Healthy Controls
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Clinically significant
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The active stimulation will consist of an alternating current delivered in the alpha frequency band with a peak-to-peak intensity of 4 milliamps (mA) for 20 minutes. Participants will complete sentence completion and verb generation task during stimulation.
Device: Active transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)
Sham stimulation involves the delivery of 60 seconds of the actual stimulation waveform ("ramp up") which is then gradually reduced to 0 milliamps (mA) ("ramp down"). Participants will complete sentence completion and verb generation task during stimulation.
Device: Active transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)
Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation (tACS) is a device that applies a low-intensity electrical current to the brain through electrodes on the scalp.
Also known as: Sham transcranial alternating current stimulation [(ACS)
Performance on the Blocked-Cyclic Naming (BCN) Task
The BCN tasks involves naming a set of pictures repeatedly. Sets of pictures come from either the same semantic category (high competition condition; e.g., categorically related: "dog", "cat", "panda") or different semantic categories (low competition condition; e.g., unrelated: dog, eye, crib).
Time frame: 5-10 minutes after a single session of active (alpha tACS) and sham (fake tACS).
Started Jul 2024 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Aug 2028, 49 months after the start.
Of 3,108 non-industry interventional studies with no phase under Stroke, half reached primary completion within 23 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 46. This study's planned 49 months is above that.
Counting every sponsor, half of 3,252 studies reached it within 23 months; a quarter within 10 and three quarters within 46.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
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