Study of Structural and Functional Brain Connectivity Changes in ALS (CoALS-II)

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center31 enrolled

Overview

This study will try to understand the difference in brain structure between ALS patients and healthy people of similar age. ALS is a condition affecting the nervous system with disruption of the brain networks. This study aims to understand these disruptions and determine their significance in ALS.

Participants and healthy controls will be consented into the study. After consent, details including age, duration of disease, ALSFRS score, and grip strength will be collected. Participants will be trained to perform a grip and release task using a foam ball for 1 minute while inside an MRI scanner. Anatomical, functional and diffusion MRI sequences will be acquired during the scanning, and total scan time will be approximately 1 hour.

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Enrollment

Conditions

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Interventions

fMRIOTHER

fMRI scan for 1 hour

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 YearsHealthy volunteers:

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Based on El Escorial Criteria we will select Probable or Definite ALS. * Healthy controls age matched to ALS patients * Subjects should be able to lie down in a scanner and undergo an hour-long MRI study * Subjects should be able to understand instructions, provide consent and perform a hand task while inside the scanner Exclusion Criteria: * Unable to undergo MRI due to any reason * Age \<18 * ALS patients having high aspiration risk * Patients having cognitive limitations which prevents them from understanding the study requirements, providing consent or perform tasks inside the scanner.

Locations (1)

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

fMRI

Brain network generation and analysis will be performed for anatomical and functional imaging

Time frame: 1 hour

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov

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