Preventing Language Decline in Dementia

Primary Progressive Aphasia Clinical Trial

Official title:

Preventing Language Decline in Dementia

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT02541097
• Other study ID #: NPSASA-15-362999
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: May 2016
• Est. completion date: January 31, 2019

Study information

• Verified date: July 2019
• Source: Baycrest
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

This study will establish factors fundamental to the improvement in communication and quality of life for people with dementia known as primary progressive aphasia (PPA). PPA is a type of dementia in which language declines but other cognitive skills (including memory) are preserved in the first several years after the onset. This makes those in the initial stages of PPA excellent candidates for treatment and creates a window of time (2-7 years) whereby they can lead independent lives with minimal support. However, currently, no communication therapy is available to people with PPA due to the progressive nature of the disorder and lack of awareness of available options for professionals willing to treat it.

Participants with PPA in our study will receive two kinds of therapy for the words they cannot recall spontaneously, and will be trained to maintain them through social interaction. The type of training will be based on the most successful interventions the investigators provided to people with PPA in our previous work. The investigators expect that successful re-learning of forgotten words and practicing them in a group setting will facilitate retention of communication skills leading to greater personal independence and increased/maintained quality of life for people with PPA. Our study represents natural combination of two novel approaches for PPA that ultimately will lead to lower demands on the health care system.

Description:

The study will establish factors fundamental to the improvement in communication and quality of life for people with dementia known as primary progressive aphasia (PPA). PPA is a type of dementia in which language declines but other cognitive skills (including memory) are preserved in the first several years after the onset (see Mesulam 1982). This makes those in the initial stages of PPA excellent candidates for treatment and creates a window of time (2-7 years) whereby PPA individuals can lead independent lives with minimal support. However, currently, no communication therapy is available to people with PPA due to the progressive nature of the disorder and lack of awareness of available options for professionals willing to treat it.

Naming impairments are omnipresent in PPA. For this reason, anomia will be the focus of our intervention. Participants with PPA in our study will receive two kinds of therapy for the words they cannot recall spontaneously, and will be trained to maintain them through social interaction. The type of training will be based on the most successful interventions the investigators provided to people with PPA in our previous work (active encoding and errorless lerning). The investigators expect that successful re-learning of forgotten words and practicing them in a group setting will facilitate retention of communication skills leading to greater personal independence and increased/maintained quality of life for people with PPA. half of the cohort (randomly determined) will then participate in a communication group where conversations are encouraged and half will attend "non-verbal" group meetings when they will paint, watch movies and engage in other activities not requiring talking. To evaluate the benefits of practicing the re-learned words in a social setting naming skills will be tested for each participant before and after individual and group interventions.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 20
• Est. completion date: January 31, 2019
• Est. primary completion date: December 2018
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: N/A and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• diagnosis of PPA

• fluent in English

• able to see and hear

• able to participate in individual and group sessions

• willing to travel to sessions

• physically independent (if assistive devices needed, must be able to operate them)

Exclusion Criteria:

• untreated mental conditions

• neurodegenerative conditions (other than PPA)

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Aphasia
• Aphasia, Primary Progressive
• Dementia
• Frontotemporal Dementia
• Pick Disease of the Brain
• Primary Progressive Aphasia

Intervention

Behavioral:
• Language therapy
Participants will receive semantic and phonological therapy for words they cannot retrieve spontaneously. They will be given an opportunity to practice the words in a group setting.

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Canada	Baycrest Health Sciences	Toronto	Ontario

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
Baycrest

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Canada, 

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Naming accuracy measured with standard naming tests (e.g., BNT)		4 months