Personalized Brain Stimulation Combined with Specialized Rehabilitation Therapy to Improve Symptoms in People with Cerebellar Damage

What this Trial Is About

This research aims to evaluate the feasibility and preliminary effectiveness of combining personalized transcranial direct current stimulation tDCS with individualized rehabilitation therapy in people who have cerebellar damage. Cerebellar damage leads to disabling ataxia symptoms that affect balance, coordination, speech, and thinking. Because medicines for ataxia are very limited, rehabilitation therapy is the main treatment, but the best way to pair it with brain stimulation remains uncertain. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either active or sham tDCS paired with individualized therapy sessions. The therapy focuses on one of three areas chosen by the participant walking and balance, hand and arm control, or speech and communication. Each participant will receive 30 sessions of therapy over three weeks, including one daily session with 20 minutes of either active or sham tDCS. The stimulation site is personalized using brain imaging and electric field modeling before treatment. During the study, participants will be assessed before treatment, after treatment, and at 3 and 6 months follow-up using scales that measure ataxia symptoms and patient-reported outcomes. The study includes detailed monitoring of functional improvements and safety. Participants will complete up to 30 therapy sessions with ongoing evaluation of their balance, coordination, speech, and overall ataxia symptoms throughout the study period.

Individualized Neuro-Modulation Paired With Cerebellar Therapy