Escitalopram and Language Intervention for Subacute Aphasia

Description

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

Aphasia, Stroke

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Study Overview

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Study Details

Study overview

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).

Escitalopram and Language Intervention for Subacute Aphasia (ELISA)

Escitalopram and Language Intervention for Subacute Aphasia

Condition
Aphasia
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

Baltimore

Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, 21287

Charleston

Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, South Carolina, United States, 29425

Columbia

University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, United States, 29208

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

  • * 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).
  • * 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.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 Years to 99 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Collaborators and Investigators

Johns Hopkins University,

Argye Hillis-Trupe, MD, PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR, Johns Hopkins University

Study Record Dates

2026-01-18