Neuromodulation and Neuroimaging in Older Children With Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Official title

Assessing the Efficacy of Alterations in Subcortical-Cortical Functional Connectivity From Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Older Children After Mild Traumatic Brain Injury

Overview

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) often causes persistent motor and cognitive deficits in children resulting in functional limitations. We are testing a brain stimulation method along with evaluating objective tools to help record and restore communication among affected brain areas, which will facilitate recovery in youth after mTBI.

Detailed description

About 1.9 million children sustain mTBI per year from sports injuries alone in the US. In about 30% of children, the cognitive-motor effects of mTBI interrupt typical neurodevelopment leading to chronic neurological conditions. The limited evidence available on mTBI suggests that residual symptoms may involve the brain stem (BS); the subcortical region that is now shown to influence cognitive-motor control. The BS also has functional interconnections to other cortical regions involved in cognitive-motor learning such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, premotor cortex, and primary motor cortex. While clinicians examine certain risk factors such as amnesia and history of prior concussions, they lack objective biomarkers to accurately predict the post-mTBI prognosis in children, and to accurately guide treatment. Further, there is no evidence-based standard of care established, so children may be released to pre-injury activity levels before full neurophysiological recovery, predisposing them to further mTBI and associated sequelae.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), a non-invasive treatment, has been demonstrated to positively influence cognitive-motor control by modulating the excitability of both cortical and subcortical structures. Additionally, resting state functional connectivity has shown promise in diagnosing and predicting recovery in adult TBI. However, the efficacy of tDCS for children with mTBI is not yet established due to their atypical cortical activity and variable symptomology. Consequently, we aim to determine the efficacy of tDCS for promoting recovery in 10 youths (aged 10 to 15 years) who exhibit persistent symptoms of mTBI using a cross-over design compared with 10 never-injured youths as controls, and to test the application of neural correlates to provide insights into their functional change and recovery by comparing group differences.

Interventions

• Device tDCS in Youth with mild traumatic brain injury
  The safety and tolerability of tDCS have been established in children with mTBI (1). A recent study of 13-18 year youths post-mTBI showed that three sessions of 1.5 mA anodal tDCS over the left DLPFC, positively influenced prolonged working memory deficits. (2) Additionally, rodent studies show the effectiveness of tDCS in improving cognitive-motor (motor planning and balance/gait) function in rats with mTBI. (3)

Primary outcome measures

• Changes in the Revised Physical and Neurological Examination of Subtle Signs (PANESS - Gaits and Stations Measures) [Time frame: Day 1 (at the initial visit), Day 26- 30 (final post-anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), Day 60 -64 (final post-sham tDCS), and Day 94 (at 30-days follow up visit).]
• Changes in the Nine-Hole Peg Test [Time frame: Day 1 (at the initial visit), Day 26- 30 (final post-anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), Day 60 -64 (final post-sham tDCS), and Day 94 (at 30-days follow up visit).]
• Changes in the Dual-Task Screen [Time frame: Day 1 (at the initial visit), Day 26- 30 (final post-anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), Day 60 -64 (final post-sham tDCS), and Day 94 (at 30-days follow up visit).]
• Changes in Motor Control Test Measurements (Posturography) [Time frame: Day 1 (at the initial visit), Day 26- 30 (final post-anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), Day 60 -64 (final post-sham tDCS), and Day 94 (at 30-days follow up visit).]
• Changes in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging outcome [Time frame: Day 2-5 (post initial behavioral testing), Day 26- 32 (final post-anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), Day 60 -66 (final post-sham tDCS), and Day 94 - 96 (post 30-days follow up behavioral testing visit).]

Secondary outcome measures (3)

• Changes in PHQ-8 [Time frame: Day 1 (at the initial visit), Day 26- 30 (final post-anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), Day 60 -64 (final post-sham tDCS), and Day 94 (at 30-days follow up visit).]
• Changes in GAD-7 [Time frame: Day 1 (at the initial visit), Day 26- 30 (final post-anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), Day 60 -64 (final post-sham tDCS), and Day 94 (at 30-days follow up visit).]
• Changes in WASI-II [Time frame: Day 1 (at the initial visit), Day 26- 30 (final post-anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), Day 60 -64 (final post-sham tDCS), and Day 94 (at 30-days follow up visit).]

Eligibility criteria

Experimental Cohort:

Inclusion criteria

• age 10-15 years at enrollment
• enrolled after 6 weeks of mTBI injury
• exhibiting post-concussive symptoms (e.g., difficulty planning, sequencing, and executing a motor action)
• Sustained an mTBI or concussion within the past 12 months
• Parent and child proficient in English

Healthy Controls Cohort:

Inclusion criteria

• 10 to 15 years old
• no concussion history
• Parent and child proficient in English

Experimental Cohort:

Exclusion criteria

• loss of consciousness > 30 minutes
• post-traumatic amnesia > 24 hours
• intracranial findings on clinical imaging
• history of developmental delay
• history of learning disability or ADHD
• Sustained a lower limb or upper limb injury that has not healed
• History of Seizures
• Noticeable skin lesions/burns or any other severe skin problems at the site of the electrodes before the start of the stimulation.
• Parent/guardian report metal implants anywhere in the head/ncek/body on the MRI screening form (see attached).
• Parent/guardian report shrapnel/bullets in the body on the MRI screening form.
• Parent/guardian report any electronic implant such as a cardiac pacemaker, cochlear implant, ventricular shunt, cardiac defibrillator, aneurysm clips, pacing wires, any implant held in place with a magnet, heart valve, or deep brain stimulator on the MRI screening form.
• Parent/guardian report a craniotomy or any other surgery in the past 6 weeks on the MRI screening form.
• Parent/guardian report being claustrophobic on the MRI screening form.
• Parent/guardian report and provide orbit x-ray after the eye injury involving a metal that the subject is cleared as indicated on the MRI screening form.
• Pregnant females as reported by parent/guardian on the pre-consent screening form. Pubertal/post-pubertal female participants14 and above will be provided a separate post-consent screening form at each MRI visit to ensure the female reports accurately without fear.

Healthy Controls Cohort:

Exclusion criteria

• diagnosed with developmental delay
• sustained a lower limb or upper limb injury that has not healed
• history of Learning Disability and/or ADHD
• Parent/guardian report metal implants anywhere in the head/ncek/body on the MRI screening form (see attached).
• Parent/guardian report shrapnel/bullets in the body on the MRI screening form.
• Parent/guardian report any electronic implant such as a cardiac pacemaker, cochlear implant, ventricular shunt, cardiac defibrillator, aneurysm clips, pacing wires, any implant held in place with a magnet, heart valve, or deep brain stimulator on the MRI screening form.
• Parent/guardian report a craniotomy or any other surgery in the past 6 weeks on the MRI screening form.
• Parent/guardian report being claustrophobic on the MRI screening form.
• Parent/guardian report and provide orbit x-ray after the eye injury involving a metal that the subject is cleared as indicated on the MRI screening form.
• Pregnant females as reported by parent/guardian on the pre-consent screening form. Post-pubertal females 14 and above will be provided a separate post-consent screening form at each MRI visit to ensure the female reports accurately without fear.

Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.

Healthy volunteers: Yes

Study design

Allocation

Non-randomized

Model

Crossover

Masking

Open label

Primary purpose

Treatment

Study locations

United States · 1 center

• Ghazala Saleem — Buffalo

Publications

• Saleem GT, Crasta JE, Slomine BS, Cantarero GL, Suskauer SJ. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Pediatric Motor Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2019 Apr;100(4):724-738. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2018.10.011. Epub 2018 Nov 7. PMID 30414398
• Brunoni AR, Amadera J, Berbel B, Volz MS, Rizzerio BG, Fregni F. A systematic review on reporting and assessment of adverse effects associated with transcranial direct current stimulation. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol. 2011 Sep;14(8):1133-45. doi: 10.1017/S1461145710001690. Epub 2011 Feb 15. PMID 21320389
• Rotter J, Kamat D. Concussion in Children. Pediatr Ann. 2019 Apr 1;48(4):e182-e185. doi: 10.3928/19382359-20190326-01. PMID 30986320
• Fregni F, Nitsche MA, Loo CK, Brunoni AR, Marangolo P, Leite J, Carvalho S, Bolognini N, Caumo W, Paik NJ, Simis M, Ueda K, Ekhitari H, Luu P, Tucker DM, Tyler WJ, Brunelin J, Datta A, Juan CH, Venkatasubramanian G, Boggio PS, Bikson M. Regulatory Considerations for the Clinical and Research Use of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS): review and recommendations from an expert panel. Cli PMID 25983531

Identifiers

NCT: NCT05762796 · STUDY00006696 · UL1TR001412

Primary sources (government registries)

• ClinicalTrials.gov (US NIH)

View this study on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗