Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) Clinical Trials

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Improving Vision in Adults With Macular Degeneration, Study 2: The Effect of Concurrent Perceptual Learning and Brain Stimulation

Status: Recruiting
Location: See all (2) locations...
Intervention Type: Device
Study Type: Interventional
Study Phase: Not Applicable
SUMMARY

The purpose of this study is to test whether a kind of brain stimulation called anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) can be combined with perceptual learning to improve the ability of people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or juvenile macular degeneration (JMD) to read words presented to them on a computer screen better than if perceptual learning alone were used. In addition, secondary measures of visual acuity will also be examined to determine whether brain stimulation can allow patients to resolve finer details of an image. The proposed treatment is the application of a-tDCS onto the participant's head, with brain stimulation aimed at Primary Visual Cortex toward the occipital pole, while patients undergo six separate sessions of training. The investigators will test the ability of participants to read words before the start of the training sessions (pre test) and after the completion of all training sessions (post test). This is a between-subjects design, and half of the participants will receive true stimulation, and the other half will receive sham stimulation. The difference between the pre and post tests when receiving active stimulation will be compared to the difference when receiving sham stimulation, because the sham stimulation is not expected to influence reading beyond a placebo. The aim of the study is to examine the potential of concurrent brain stimulation and perceptual learning as an effective treatment for macular degeneration that may be used in conjunction with more traditional eye-based interventions. The investigators hypothesize that the brain stimulation will enable higher performance in the reading task after and secondary measures after perceptual training due to an increase in the cortical excitability of the stimulated brain cells.

Eligibility
Participation Requirements
Sex: All
Minimum Age: 18
Healthy Volunteers: f
View:

• Diagnosis of AMD (age 60+) or JMD (current age 18+).

• Visual acuity (VA); between 6/9-6/96 in the better eye

• Best-corrected near visual acuity of 4.0M at 40 cm or better in the better eye

• Stable vision in previous 3 months (patient report)

• Central vision loss

Locations
Other Locations
Canada
University of Waterloo
ACTIVE_NOT_RECRUITING
Waterloo
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
RECRUITING
Hung Hom
Contact Information
Primary
Ben Thompson, PhD
ben.thompson@uwaterloo.ca
15198884567
Backup
Andrew E Silva, PhD
a8silva@uwaterloo.ca
Time Frame
Start Date: 2021-02-13
Estimated Completion Date: 2026-12
Participants
Target number of participants: 30
Treatments
Active_comparator: Active + Training
Participants in this arm will be exposed to active stimulation for the first 25 minutes of a roughly hour - long perceptual training procedure in which participants must verbally read sentences presented at various speeds and sizes.
Sham_comparator: Sham + Training
Participants in this arm will be exposed to sham stimulation for the first 25 minutes of a roughly hour - long perceptual training procedure in which participants must verbally read sentences presented at various speeds and sizes.
Related Therapeutic Areas
Late-Onset Retinal Degeneration
Age-Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD)
Sponsors
Leads: University of Waterloo
Collaborators: The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

This content was sourced from clinicaltrials.gov

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