Actively Recruiting
Escitalopram and Language Intervention for Subacute Aphasia
Led by Johns Hopkins University · Updated on 2025-09-23
88
Participants Needed
3
Research Sites
287 weeks
Total Duration
On this page
Sponsors
J
Johns Hopkins University
Lead Sponsor
U
University of South Carolina
Collaborating Sponsor
AI-Summary
What this Trial Is About
In this project, the investigators will investigate the effects of a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), escitalopram, on augmenting language therapy effectiveness, as measured by naming untrained pictures and describing pictures, in individuals with aphasia in the acute and subacute post stroke period (i.e., within three months post stroke).
CONDITIONS
Official Title
Escitalopram and Language Intervention for Subacute Aphasia
Who Can Participate
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if you...
- Participants must have sustained an acute ischemic left hemisphere stroke.
- Participants must be fluent speakers of English by self-report.
- Participants must be capable of giving informed consent or indicating a legally authorized representative to provide informed consent.
- Participants must be age 18 or older.
- Participants must be within 5 days of onset of stroke.
- Participants must be pre-morbidly right-handed by self-report.
- Participants must have an aphasia diagnosis as confirmed by the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised (Aphasia Quotient < 93.8).
You will not qualify if you...
- Previous neurological disease affecting the brain including previous symptomatic stroke.
- Diagnosis of schizophrenia, autism, or other psychiatric or neurological condition that affects naming/language.
- A history of additional risk factors for torsades de pointes (TdP; e.g., heart failure, hypokalemia, family history of Long QT Syndrome).
- Current severe depression, defined as a score of > 15 on the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9).
- Uncorrected visual loss or hearing loss by self-report.
- Use of any medication approved by the FDA for treatment of depression at the time of stroke onset.
- Concomitant use of any monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) or pimozide, or other drugs that prolong the QT/QTc interval, triptans (and other 5-Hydroxytryptamine Receptor Agonists), or other contraindications to escitalopram that may be identified.
- A QTc greater than 450 milliseconds on electrocardiogram or evidence of hyponatremia (Na < 130) at baseline.
- Pregnancy at the time of stroke or planning to become pregnant during the study term.
AI-Screening
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Trial Site Locations
Total: 3 locations
1
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21287
Actively Recruiting
2
Medical University of South Carolina
Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 29425
Actively Recruiting
3
University of South Carolina
Columbia, South Carolina, United States, 29208
Actively Recruiting
Research Team
A
Argye Hillis-Trupe, MD
CONTACT
M
Melissa D Stockbridge, PhD
CONTACT
How is the study designed?
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Masking
TRIPLE
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Model
PARALLEL
Primary Purpose
TREATMENT
Number of Arms
2
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