Home-based Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Open Trial for Behavioral and Cognitive Symptoms in Huntington's Disease
The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Summary
The purpose of this study is to assess feasibility, acceptability, and safety of providing transcranial direct current stimulation( tDCS) to Huntingtons Disease (HD) patients in the early to middle stages and to assess the efficacy of tDCS for HD-related behavioral, cognitive and other symptoms
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18–80 years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Participant: Inclusion Criteria: * confirmed HD mutation carriers and/or established family history alongside typical symptoms (i.e. chorea) of HD; * early (stages 1 and 2) or moderate (stage 3) stages according to Shoulson-Fahn * exhibit mild to moderate behavioral symptoms defined by severity scores in the PBA-S between 1 and 3 for any of the evaluated symptoms and no symptoms with a severity score of 4 * stable doses of medications for at least one month * Have a caregiver willing to be present during tDCS sessions and answer questionnaires. Exclusion Criteria: * unstable medical condit…
Interventions
- Deviceactive tDCS
Participants will receive active tDCS with a constant current intensity of 2mA. Anodal tDCS will be applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, while cathodal electrode will be positioned on the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Caregivers will help setting up and administering tDCS for participants with HD at home. tDCS will be applied for 30min at an intensity of 2mA, with 30 s ramping up and down. Sessions will be remotely supervised by trained research staff (RA), and will run from Monday through Friday for four consecutive weeks.
Location
- The University of Texas Health Science Center at HoustonHouston, Texas