---
title: Brain stimulation improves thinking skills
nct_id: NCT03025334
phase: NA
status: RECRUITING
sponsor: University of Manitoba
study_type: INTERVENTIONAL
canonical_url: "https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT03025334"
clinicaltrials_gov: "https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03025334"
last_fetched: "2026-05-10T14:08:01.716Z"
source: "Parkinson's Pathways (curated)"
---
# Brain stimulation improves thinking skills

**Goal (in five words):** Brain stimulation improves thinking skills

**Official Title:** Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Treatment of Cognitive Dysfunction in Parkinson's Disease

**Trial ID:** [NCT03025334](https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03025334)

## Key Facts

- **Phase:** NA
- **Status:** RECRUITING
- **Study Type:** INTERVENTIONAL
- **Sponsor:** University of Manitoba
- **Target Enrollment:** 36 participants
- **Start Date:** 2017-03-22
- **Completion Date:** 2027-08-31
- **Conditions:** Parkinson Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment
- **Interventions:** High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation
- **Intervention Types:** DEVICE

## Summary For Families

The goal is to help mild cognitive impairment in Parkinson's, targeting thinking problems like memory, attention, and planning that make day-to-day tasks harder. The approach uses high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation, a noninvasive device that delivers a weak, focused electrical current through the scalp to boost excitability and connectivity in brain networks that support cognition; because it is not a drug it does not change how levodopa works, but safety screening excludes people with factors that raise seizure or device risk. They are enrolling English-speaking adults over 40 with Parkinson's and mild cognitive impairment who can consent, while excluding people with dementia (MoCA <18), atypical parkinsonism, metal implants or pacemakers, a history of seizures or stroke, major heart problems, severe dyskinesia, pregnancy, or use of medications that lower seizure threshold.

## Eligibility

- **Minimum age:** 40 Years
- **Sex:** ALL

### Full Criteria

```
Inclusion Criteria:

* Patients must meet diagnostic criteria for idiopathic Parkinson's disease, defined as the presence of two or more of the cardinal clinical features of PD in the absence of known causes of parkinsonism such as encephalitis or neuroleptic treatment
* Ability to provide written informed consent
* defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; DSM-5)
* Age \> 40
* fluent in English.
* Patients' cognitive statuses will be evaluated by the participating neuropsychiatrist or a trained psychiatry or neurology resident.

Exclusion Criteria:

* Patients with dementia (defined as a Montreal Cognitive Assessment score \< 18)
* Atypical parkinsonian features including myoclonus, apraxia, oculomotor abnormalities, ataxia, sensory loss, or pyramidal signs.
* Abnormal MRI
* metal implants or a cardiac pacemaker
* Pregnant or breastfeeding women (female subjects of child bearing potential will be screened for pregnancy before MRI imaging).
* severe dyskinesia that may interfere with the quality of the scan (e.g., dyskinesia involving head movement).
* severe hypertension.
* cardiovascular disease.
* Patients with a history of seizure, stroke, moderate to severe head injury, high intracranial pressure, severe headaches, or presence of other neurologic disease that may be associated with an altered seizure threshold; or concurrent medication use, such as tricyclic antidepressants, neuroleptic medications, or other drugs that are known to lower seizure threshold
* secondary conditions that may significantly alter electrolyte balance or lower seizure threshold.
* Family history of epilepsy.
```

## Locations (1)

- University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada _(49.8844, -97.1470)_
  - Ji Hyun Ko, PhD — (CONTACT) — 204-318-2566 — ji.ko@umanitoba.ca

## Central Contacts

- Ji Hyun Ko, PhD — (CONTACT) — 204-318-2566 — ji.ko@umanitoba.ca

---

*Canonical: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT03025334*  
*HTML version: https://parkinsonspathways.com/trial/NCT03025334*  
*Source data: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT03025334*