N/A Completed N=5 Randomized Triple-blind Treatment

Treating Civilian Traumatic Brain Injury With High Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (ciTBI-HDtDCS)

Traumatic Brain Injury · Word Finding Difficulty · acquired brain injury · Cognitive Change

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05408975 ↗

Enrolled (actual)

Serious AEs

0.0%

Results posted

Feb 2026

Primary outcomePrimary: The Controlled Oral Word Association Test — 30.67; 30.5; 33.33; 35 Total items

Summary

The purpose of the study is to test whether low level electric stimulation, called transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), on the part of the brain (i.e., pre-supplementary motor area) thought to aid in memory will improve verbal retrieval in civilian (non-military, non-veteran) participants with histories of traumatic brain injuries. The primary outcome measures are neuropsychological assessments of verbal retrieval, and the secondary measures are neuropsychological assessments of other cognitive abilities and electroencephalography (EEG) measures. Additionally, the study will examine the degree to which baseline assessments of cognition, concussion history, structural brain imaging, and EEG predict responses to treatment over time, both on assessments administered within the intervention period and at follow-up.

Outcome Measures

Outcome	Result	p-value
PRIMARY The Controlled Oral Word Association Test	30.67; 30.5; 33.33; 35; 34.67; 39.5	—
PRIMARY Category Fluency	18; 17; 17.67; 24.5; 20; 22.5	—
PRIMARY The Boston Naming Test	26.67; 28; 27; 29.5; 27.33; 28.5	—
PRIMARY Semantic Object Retrieval Test	30.33; 30.5; 31.33; 31.5; 30.67; 31	—
PRIMARY The Delis Kaplan Color Word Interference Test, Naming	35.66666667; 41; 32.66666667; 31; 31.66666667; 34.5	—
PRIMARY The Delis Kaplan Color Word Interference Test, Reading	26; 27.5; 24; 24; 25.66666667; 25.5	—
PRIMARY The Delis Kaplan Color Word Interference Test, Inhibition	57; 71.5; 46; 64; 53; 58.5	—
PRIMARY The Delis Kaplan Color Word Interference Test, Inhibition and Switching	71.33333333; 75; 72; 58; 75.33333333; 56.5	—
PRIMARY Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and Alternative Lists, Total Learning	40.66666667; 48.5; 39.33333333; 57; 43.66666667; 58	—
PRIMARY Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test and Alternative Lists, Delayed Recall	7.333333333; 9.5; 6; 12; 8.666666667; 13.5	—
SECONDARY The Trail Making Test - Part A	37.66666667; 41.5; 27.66666667; 26.5; 28; 27	—
SECONDARY The Trail Making Test - Part B	68.66666667; 101; 63.66666667; 52.5; 57.66666667; 63.5	—
SECONDARY Digit Span Forward	0.933333333; 0.4; 0.3; -0.085; -0.34; -0.1	—
SECONDARY Digit Span Backward	0.2; 0.7; -0.933333333; 1.525; 0.44; 0.25	—
SECONDARY Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test - Delayed Recall	15.16666667; 25.5; 18.5; 28; 18; 32.5	—
SECONDARY The Digit Symbol Substitution Test	45; 45.5; 45.33333333; 58; 47.66666667; 58.5	—

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria: Participants are to be between the ages of 18-85, are non-military personnel and not veterans, and have had a traumatic brain injury (more than a year ago prior to study participation) that has led to a complaint of word finding difficulty since the brain injury, confirmed to represent a verbal retrieval deficit based on neuropsychological testing criteria. Traumatic brain injury must be in the mild to moderate range based on evaluation, including the Ohio State TBI Identification Method (administered by our research group). You must be fluent in speaking and reading English.

Exclusion Criteria

an implanted/electronic device, such as a pacemaker, metallic cranial or intracranial implant (e.g., ventriculoperitoneal shunt), or a neurostimulator (e.g., vagus nerve stimulator, spinal stimulator, deep brain stimulator, etc.).
skull defects
a history of a psychological or neurological disorder, including, dementia of any type, epilepsy or other seizure disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, brain tumor, present drug abuse, stroke, blood vessel abnormalities in the brain, Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, or multiple sclerosis.
inability to give informed consent
currently pregnant
not a native English speaker

View full record on ClinicalTrials.gov →

Data sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT05408975). Outcome figures and adverse-event rates are extracted automatically from the registry's posted results and are provided for clinician reference, not as a substitute for the primary publication. Informational only — not medical advice.