Aphasia clinical trials at University of California Health
3 in progress, 0 open to eligible people
High-intensity Exercise Training on Physical Fitness, Cognition, Language in Post-stroke Aphasia
Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients
The goal of this clinical trial is to establish the feasibility and fidelity of a high-intensity exercise program for individuals with post-stroke aphasia. The main questions it aims to answer are: - Is it feasible for stroke survivors with aphasia to participate in a long in-person physical exercise program? - Does participation in a physical exercise program lead to physical fitness, cognitive, language and/or psychological changes? Participants can take part in two different physical exercise interventions: - Low intensity intervention (control intervention); - High-intensity physical exercise intervention (target intervention).
at UCSF
Neural Bases of Vocal Sensorimotor Impairment in Aphasia
Sorry, not currently recruiting here
Aphasia is the most common type of post-stroke communication disorder characterized by deficits in speech comprehension, production and control. While recovery can be promoted with speech therapy, improvement remains modest and typically requires a large number of sessions contributing to rising health care costs. Traditional aphasia therapy focus on enhancing speech motor output; however, recent evidence suggests that the auditory feedback also plays a critical role in fluent speech. Therefore, a key step toward refining treatment strategies is to develop objective biomarkers that can probe the integrity of sensorimotor mechanisms of speech auditory feedback and identify their impaired function in patients with post-stroke aphasia. This study aims to examine the behavioral, neurophysiological (EEG), and neuroimaging (fMRI) biomarkers of speech impairment following stroke with focus on understanding the role of auditory feedback for speech production and control. We plan to test individuals with post-stroke aphasia and a matched neuroptypical control group during different speech production tasks under the altered auditory feedback paradigm. In addition, we aim to examine the effect of audio-visual feedback training on enhancing communication ability during speech. These biomarkers will be combined with existing lesion-symptom-mapping data in the aphasic group in order to identify the patterns of brain damage and diminished structural connectivity within the auditory-motor areas of the left hemisphere that predict impaired sensorimotor processing of speech in aphasia. The long-term goal of this research is to develop a model for identifying the source of sensorimotor deficit and improve diagnosis and targeted treatment of speech disorders in aphasia.
at UC Irvine
Treatment for Speech and Language in Primary Progressive Aphasia
Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients
Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a progressive neurological disorder that causes a gradual decline in communication ability as a result of selective neurodegeneration of speech and language networks in the brain. PPA is a devastating condition affecting adults as young as their 40's or 50's, depriving them of the ability to communicate and function in society. There has been significant progress in discovering the neurobiological mechanisms that underlie PPA and in identifying its clinical phenotypes. With these advances, we are poised to investigate behavioral treatments that are grounded in modern cognitive and neuroanatomical concepts. Research documenting the efficacy of speech-language treatment for PPA is emerging, but limited. Systematic research is needed to establish best clinical practices in this unique patient population for whom pharmacological treatment remains elusive. The long-term objectives of this project are to provide evidence-based treatment methods addressing the speech and language deficits in PPA and to determine the neural predictors of responsiveness to intervention. The study has three main goals that build on the findings of our previous work: 1) to examine the utility of treatments designed to facilitate significant, generalized and lasting improvement of speech-language function in PPA, 2) to determine whether treatment alters the trajectory of decline in PPA by comparing performance on primary outcome measures in treated versus untreated participants after a one-year interval, and 3) to identify imaging predictors (gray matter, white matter, and functional connectivity measures) of responsiveness to behavioral intervention in individuals with PPA. In order to accomplish these aims, we will enroll 60 individuals with PPA, who will undergo a comprehensive multidisciplinary evaluation and neuroimaging. Subsequently, participants will be enrolled in treatment designed to promote lasting and generalized improvement of communicative function in core speech-language domains. Participants will be followed for up to one-year post-treatment in order to determine long-term effects of rehabilitation, and their performance will be compared with a historical cohort of untreated PPA patients. This ambitious study and the necessary recruitment will be possible due to an ongoing collaboration with the UCSF Memory and Aging Center, a leading institution in the field of PPA research. The study will broaden the evidence base supporting the efficacy of speech-language intervention in PPA and will provide novel evidence regarding neural predictors of treatment outcomes, with the potential to inform clinical decision-making and improve clinical care for individuals with this debilitating disorder.
at UCSF
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