Recruiting

tACS

Sponsor:

University of Pennsylvania

Code:

NCT06092814

Conditions

Stroke

Aphasia, Acquired

Aphasia

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

Active transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)

Study Details

Brief summary:

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.

Conditions

Stroke

Aphasia, Acquired

Aphasia

Study ID

NCT06092814

Start date

Jul 12, 2024

Status verified date

Aug, 2026

Completion date

Aug 31, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Aug 31, 2028

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria for Persons with Aphasia:

1. Presence of aphasia
2. Suffered a single, left hemisphere stroke
3. Stroke ≥6 months old (chronic) at the time of enrollment

Inclusion Criteria for Healthy Controls:

1. Right-handedness
2. Must be able to understand the nature of the study, and give informed consent

Exclusion criteria for Persons with Aphasia:

1. Inability to understand the nature of the study
2. Marked naming impairment
3. Impaired non-verbal, conceptual processing
4. History of significant medical or neurological disorder (other than stroke)
5. History of significant or poorly controlled psychiatric disorders
6. Current abuse of alcohol or drugs, prescription or otherwise
7. Nursing a child, pregnancy, or intent to become pregnant during the study
8. Clinically significant hearing loss
9. Contraindications to tACS
10. Contraindications to MRI

Exclusion Criteria for Healthy Controls

1. Diagnosis of a neurodegenerative disease or clinically significant cognitive complaint
2. Any unrelated neurologic or physical condition that impairs communication ability
3. History of unrelated neurological conditions including but not limited to traumatic brain injury, stroke, or small vessel disease that has resulted in a neurologic deficit
4. Any additional neurological condition that would likely reduce the safety of study participation, including central nervous system (CNS) vasculitis, intracranial tumor, intracranial aneurysm, multiple sclerosis or arteriovenous malformations
5. A medically unstable cardiopulmonary or metabolic disorder
6. Terminal illness associated with survival <12 months
7. Major active psychiatric illness that may interfere with required study procedures or treatments as determined by the enrolling physician
8. Current abuse of alcohol or drugs, prescription or otherwise
9. Contraindications to tACS
10. Contraindications to MRI

Study Design

Enrollment

120 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Crossover

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

active comparator: real-tACS

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.

placebo comparator: sham-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.

Interventions

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.

Primary outcome measure

  • Performance on the Blocked-Cyclic Naming (BCN) Task [ Time Frame: 5-10 minutes after a single session of active (alpha tACS) and sham (fake tACS). ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Locations

University of Pennsylvania

Recruiting

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104

Contacts

More Information

Sponsor

University of Pennsylvania

Last update posted

Aug 24, 2026

Last verified

Aug, 2026

Keywords

  • non-invasive brain stimulation
  • transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS)
  • EEG

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-08. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by University of Pennsylvania on 2026-08-24.