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Testing magnetic brain stimulation for thinking in veterans

Researchers examine safety, practicality and effects on thinking and brain activity in veterans with Parkinson’s.

Testing a treatment or activity · Study reference: NCT03836950

Plain-language introduction written with AI from the registry; not independently checked by a clinician. Read the original details below ↓

Open the official registry record ↗

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Looking for volunteers

Start (reported actual date)
2020-04-01
Main measurements finished (planned)
2027-03-31
Study finished (planned)
2028-03-30

Planned dates can move. A study finishing does not tell us when a paper will be published.

No results summary has been confirmed in the registry records we imported. See connected papers below; we keep checking after recruitment ends.

Changes we have recorded
  • 2026-10-11 — recruiting

These are dates we observed a change, not necessarily the dates it happened.

Papers connected to this study

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation as a Cognitive Rehabilitation Approach for Veterans With Parkinson Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment: Protocol for a Randomized Sham-Controlled Trial.
Listed by the registry as research derived from the study · 2026

Who can join?

Age 50 years and over · Does not accept healthy volunteers

These are starting points, not the full rules. The research team can tell you whether the study is right for your situation.

Read all the rules for taking part

Sex eligibility reported by registry: all

Inclusion Criteria: * Veterans who seek services at Hines VA Hospital or Jesse Brown VA Medical Center * Diagnosis of PD or atypical parkinsonism as determined by a neurologist * Meet criteria for having mild cognitive impairment * Receiving stable (i.e., no changes in medication and medication dose) medication and who are expected to remain on stable medication for the duration of the RCT * Speak and read English * 50 years or older Exclusion Criteria: * Dementia * Failure to demonstrate decision making capacity * History of deep brain stimulation surgery * Severe depression * Resting head tremor * Dyskinesia that will interfere with collecting imaging data * Has congestive heart failure * Implanted cardiac pacemaker or defibrillator * Cochlear implant, nerve stimulator, or intracranial metal clips * Implanted medical pump * Increased intracranial pressure * History of claustrophobia * Metal in eyes/face, shrapnel/bullet remnants in brain * Participants at potential increased risk of seizure including those who have the following: * history (or family history) of seizure or epilepsy * history of stroke, head injury, or unexplained seizures * presence of other neurological disease that may be associated with an altered seizure threshold * such as CVA, cerebral aneurysm, dementia, increased intracranial pressure * Concurrent medication use such as tricyclic antidepressants, neuroleptic medications, any other drug known to lower seizure threshold * Secondary conditions that may significantly alter electrolyte balance or lower seizure threshold * No quantifiable motor threshold such that rTMS dosage cannot be accurately deter-mined
Full study name & original research details

Official study title

rTMS as a Cognitive Rehabilitation Approach in Veterans With Parkinson's Disease

Short title used by the registry

rTMS to Improve Cognition in Parkinson's

Original description

The purpose of this study is to examine safety, feasibility, and the behavioral and brain effects of a non-invasive treatment, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), for Veterans with Parkinson's disease or atypical parkinsonism and mild impairments in their thinking. The hypothesis is that rTMS can improve thinking for people with Parkinson's disease or atypical parkinsonism who are experiencing mild problems with their thinking ability.

Further description from the registry

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) shows promise as an effective cognitive neurorehabilitation treatment. To date, no rTMS studies have assessed the effect of rTMS on cognitive function in PD-MCI. Nor has there been PD neurophysiological studies using rTMS to examine neural plasticity in cognitive neural networks. This study seeks to fill this gap by conducting a small scaled pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) designed to assess the safety and therapeutic effects of rTMS on cognitive outcomes as well as on brain connectivity in Veterans with PD-MCI. PD-MCI participants will be randomized to either active rTMS or sham rTMS. Participants will complete a standardized neurocognitive battery assessment at baseline, endpoint and at a one month follow-up. The primary outcome is change in executive function. Secondary outcomes include performance on other cognitive domain tasks and a proximal measure of real-life function that captures relevant functional changes related to cognitive impairment in PD. Multi-modal neuroimaging, in a subsample of participants, will be used to study neural connectivity changes induced by rTMS. Changes in resting state functional connectivity, grey matter volume via voxel-based morphometry and white matter integrity via diffusion tensor imaging will be assessed at baseline and endpoint. To inform how to optimize rTMS treatment in PD-MCI, these changes will be correlated with changes in cognitive performance.

Conditions reported: Parkinson's Disease; Mild Cognitive Impairment

Registry records for this study

Records are joined using registration identifiers. Titles alone do not establish that two studies are the same.

Study type
Interventional
Interventions
MagVenture MagProX100 stimulator (MagVenture, Falun, Denmark); MagVenture MagProX100 stimulator (MagVenture, Falun, Denmark)
Phases
PHASE1; PHASE2
Sponsor
VA Office of Research and Development
Start date reported by registry
2020-04-01 (actual)

Registry updated: 2026-04-21 · Status last verified by the registry submitter: 2026-04

Registry records retrieved 2026-10-11 (UTC). Individual records may have older updates. Recruitment and eligibility must be confirmed with the study team.

Contact the research team

Public study contacts supplied to the registry. Ask whether recruitment is still open and what participation involves.

Sandra L Kletzel, PhD BA · (708) 202-5735 · Sandra.Kletzel@va.gov

Alexandria N Umbarger, BS · (708) 998-8213 · alexandria.umbarger@va.gov

Study locations

Site status can differ from overall study status. “Status not reported” means local availability needs confirmation. Remote participation and travel arrangements must be checked with the team.

Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Chicago, IL

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Not yet recruiting

Sandra L Kletzel, PhD · 708-202-5735 · sandra.kletzel@va.gov

Elyse Walsh, MS · 7089680427 · elyse.walsh@va.gov

Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, Hines, IL

Hines, Illinois, United States

Recruiting

Sadie Walker, OTR · ((70) 964-3805 · sadie.walker@va.gov

Alexandria N Umbarger, BS · (708) 998-8213 · alexandria.umbarger@va.gov

Sandra L. Kletzel, PhD BA

The original descriptions and participation rules come from the registry. Participation is voluntary and does not guarantee benefit.