Treatment of Cognitive Deficits in Multiple Sclerosis With High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Using two treatment arms, the study will examine improvement of verbal retrieval and other cognitive deficits associated with multiple sclerosis by comparing (1) 1 milliamp transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) active treatment applied to presupplementary motor area for 20 minutes over 10 sessions to (2) sham tDCS following the same schedule. Additionally, after completing the initial active or sham treatment and immediate and 2-month follow-up testing sessions, selected participants will be invited back for newly assigned treatment conditions, 20 minutes over 10 sessions and will be re-evaluated at immediate and 2-month follow-up testing sessions.

Patients with multiple sclerosis and observed cognitive deficits will be randomly assigned to one of the two treatment arms (and re-assigned for the second round of intervention, as described above). Primary outcome verbal retrieval measures, secondary neuropsychological and electroencephalography (EEG) measures, and prescreening assessments for study concussion history and contraindications for treatment will be collected prior to being assigned to a treatment arm (i.e., baseline).

Primary outcome verbal retrieval measures and secondary neuropsychological and electroencephalography (EEG) measures will be at baseline and two times following treatment competition (i.e., immediate and 2-months). For participants selected for the second round of intervention, primary outcome verbal memory measures and secondary neuropsychological and electroencephalography (EEG) measures will be collected again two times immediately following completion of the last treatment and 2-months afterward.

• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on the Trail Making Test (Part A) [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on the Trail Making Test (Part B) [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on the Delis Kaplan Color Word Interference Test [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on on the Digit Span Forward [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on the Digit Span Backward [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on on the the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on the Digit Symbol Substitution Test [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on the Grooved Pegboard Test [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on the Semantic Object Retrieval Test [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on the Boston Naming Test [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment on the Auditory Verbal Learning Test [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 6 weeks: Change from baseline to 1-week Post-Treatment]
• Treatment group differences in change from Baseline to 2-months Post-Treatment on the Trail Making Test (Part A) [Срок оценки: Outcome measures will be assessed as change over a period of 13 weeks: Change from baseline to 2-months Post-Treatment]