Transcranial Pulse Stimulation. a Potential Treatment for Early Dementia

Summary

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is characterized by the absence of treatments to slow, stop, or reverse its course, with patients finally losing cognitive functions, skills and independence. It is a chronic degenerative disease with high social and medical burden worldwide: AD ranked third among neurological disorders in terms of disability-adjusted life years (DALY) rates. The primary aim of the research protocol is to improve care for patients with AD, by implementing, with an innovative method, the currently available repertoire of neuromodulation techniques. For this aim, we will investigate whether Transcranial Pulse Stimulation (TPS) may induce cognitive improvement in patients with an early stage of dementia.

Interventions

• Transcranial Pulse Stimulation · DEVICE

  Patients will receive TPS once a day for five days a week, each session will be separated from the previous one by 24h. Each stimulation and assessment session will be performed at the same hour of the day, in the morning preferably, to maximize the probability of observing responses to stimuli. Patients will be managed in a quiete room with stable light and temperature.

Published eligibility criteria

Verbatim from the registry. Only the site can decide how these apply to a specific patient.

Inclusion Criteria:

* age\>18 years
* diagnosis of early dementia according to current international guidelines
* disease duration of at least 12 months
* consent to participate in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

* medical instability interfering with standard neurological assessment
* any contraindication to preliminary MRI for MR-based real-time neuronavigation
* comorbidities which may interfere with cognitive status
* any contraindication to Transcranial Pulse Stimulation.

Sites (2)

• San Salvatore Hospital, L’Aquila, Italy, Italy · RECRUITING
• San Salvatore Hospital, L’Aquila, Italy, Italy · RECRUITING