Protocol Number: 92-DC-0178

Title:

Functional Neuroimaging Studies of Speech Motor Control and Language Processing

Number:

92-DC-0178

Summary:

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a technique used to investigate the functional activity of the brain. The PET technique allows doctors to study the normal biochemical and metabolic processes of the central nervous system of normal individuals and patients with neurologic illnesses without physical / structural damage to the brain. Radioactive water H215O in PET scans permits good visualization of areas of the brain related to speech.

Most of the PET scan studies conducted have concentrated on learning about how language is formed and decoded. Few studies have been conducted on speech production. This study aims to use radioactive water (H215O) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET scan) to measure blood flow to different areas of the brain in order to better understand the mechanisms involved in speech motor control.

When a region of the brain is active, it uses more fuel in the form of oxygen and sugar (glucose). As the brain uses more fuel it produces more waste products, carbon dioxide and water. Blood carries fuel to the brain and waste products away from the brain. As brain activity increases blood flow to and from the area of activity increases also. Knowing these facts, researchers can use radioactive chemicals (H215O) and PET scans to observe what areas of the brain are receiving more blood flow.

Researchers will ask patients to perform tasks that will affect speech, voice, and language. At the same time patients will undergo a PET scan. The tasks are designed to help researchers observe the blood flow to brain areas associated with voicebox (laryngeal) functions, movement of muscles in the jaw, tongue, and mouth, and other aspects of motor speech.

Special studies will be conducted to evaluate how certain therapies and tasks can draw out symptoms in illnesses in which speech and language are affected. Results of these tests will be used in other studies to evaluate the neurologic mechanisms of diseases like Tourette's syndrome and parkinson's disease.

Sponsoring Institute:

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Recruitment Detail

Type: Participants currently recruited/enrolled

Gender: Male & Female

Referral Letter Required: No

Population Exclusion(s): None

Eligibility Criteria:

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Subjects will be selected from a population of patients with post-stroke aphasia.

No preference or exclusion will be granted due to gender, religion, race or ethnic background.

Non-pregnant, non-breast feeding, age and sex matched normal subjects will be recruited to provide control values.

Recruitment will be limited to those 18 years to 80 years in age.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Children will be excluded form this protocol because they do not represent members of the population at risk.

Pregnant women are excluded because the effects of the MRI on the fetus have not been established.

Special Instructions:

Currently Not Provided

Keywords:

Stuttering

Tourette's Syndrome

Spasmodic Dysphonia

Dysarthria

Parkinson's Disease

Verbal Dyspraxia

Aphasia

Speech

Motor Control

Recruitment Keyword(s):

None

Condition(s):

Communication Disorder

Healthy

Stuttering

Tourette Syndrome

Voice Disorder

Investigational Drug(s):

Radioactive Water

Investigational Device(s):

None

Intervention(s):

None

Supporting Site:

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Contact(s):

Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office
Building 61
10 Cloister Court
Bethesda, Maryland 20892-4754
Toll Free: 1-800-411-1222
TTY: 301-594-9774 (local),1-866-411-1010 (toll free)
Fax: 301-480-9793

Electronic Mail:prpl@mail.cc.nih.gov

Citation(s):

Parallel organization of functionally segregated circuits linking basal ganglia and cortex

Stuttering: an investigation into cerebral dominance for speech

Correlations between glucose metabolic rates in brain regions of healthy male adults at rest and during language stimuation

• Questions about participating in a study, please contact the Patient Recruitment and Public Liaison Office, CC.
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National Institutes of Health Clinical Center Bethesda, Maryland 20892. Last update: 09/15/2008