Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to Treat Parkinson's Disease

NCT00753519 | Completed Phase 1 Results

• 2 other identifiers: 08021208-N-0212
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 28
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study will look at the effects of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) on symptoms of Parkinson's disease. TMS is a method of brain stimulation that may be able to change the activity of the nerve cells of the brain. This study will examine the effects of a specific pattern of stimulation called intermittent theta-burst TMS (iTBS), which uses repeated magnetic pulses delivered in short bursts. People with mild to moderately severe Parkinson's disease who are between 40 and 80 years of age and whose main problems are slow movement and stiffness may be eligible for this study. Participants undergo the following tests and procedures:

• Random assignment to real or placebo (sham) iTBS treatment.
• iTBS sessions (real or sham) 4 times a week for 2 consecutive weeks. For this test, the subject sits in a comfortable chair. A wire coil is held on the subject's scalp, and a brief electrical current is passed through the coil, creating a magnetic pulse that stimulates the brain. The subject hears a click and may feel a pulling sensation on the skin under the coil. There may be a twitch in the muscles of the face, arm or leg.
• Test of gait (walk), hand and arm movements before and after each session. The gait test requires walking 10 meters (about 30 yards) in the same corridor with the same shoes.
• Extended testing. The first and last gait tests (done before starting iTBS and after the eighth session) require coming off any Parkinson's medication for at least 12 hours before the test. On these test days, subjects also undergo a clinical examination, short neuropsychological test battery, a computer-based reaction time test and depression and quality-of-life rating scales. These procedures are repeated in a follow-up visit 1 month after the last session.

Conditions

Parkinson Disease

Keywords

Parkinson's Disease; Brain Stimulation; Motor Cortex; Bradykinesia; Parkinson Disease; PD

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Gait Speed

  Gait speed was assessed by measuring the time it takes to walk 10 meters. Subject's gait speed was measured while on medication and off medication for each group, i.e., real iTBS and sham iTBS. Two trials were averaged for each condition. Patients were instructed to walk fast without taking the risk of falling, wearing the same shoes and consistently using assistive devices if needed. Gait speed was measured at baseline, 1 day post intervention, and 1 month post intervention.

  baseline, 1 day post iTBS

Secondary Outcomes (3)

• Bradykinesia

  baseline, 1 day post iTBS

• Total UPDRS Score

  baseline, 1 day post iTBS

• Motor UPDRS

  baseline, 1 day post iTBS

Study Arms (2)

Real iTBS

EXPERIMENTAL

iTBS is a novel form of excitatory rTMS that may induce larger and longer lasting changes that standard rTMS. iTBS consists of bursts of 3 pulses at 50 Hz repeated at 200 msec intervals. The 2 sec trains were repeated 20 times every 10 sec. iTBS was applied to the primary motor and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex bilaterally.

Device: Real iTBS

Sham iTBS

SHAM COMPARATOR

The sham coil was placed in the same areas, and made a similar sound as the rTMS but was without a magnetic pulse.

Device: Sham iTBS

Interventions

Real iTBS DEVICE

Real iTBS was performed in 8 sessions over 2 successive weeks, a session/day for 4 consecutive days/week.

Real iTBS

Sham iTBS DEVICE

Sham iTBS was performed in 8 sessions over 2 successive weeks, a session/day for 4 consecutive days/week.

Sham iTBS

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 40 Years - 80 Years
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Men and women aged 40 to 80 years with DOPA-responsive PD
• Hoehn and Yahr grade of 2 to 4 while off
• Must be on a regimen including levodopa.
• Total dose of levodopa and dopamine agonists (using dopamine equivalents) has to be equal to or more than 300 milligrams per day
• Problems with walking, including freezing gait time for a 10-meter distance greater than six seconds or more

You may not qualify if:

• Any active psychiatric disease or evidence of dementia
• History of seizures and epilepsy
• Concurrent use of tricyclic antidepressants, neuroleptic agents, or any other licit or illicit drugs other than anti-parkinsonian agents that could lower the seizure threshold except for SSRI
• Pallidotomy, implanted electrodes and generator for deep brain stimulation
• Pregnancy
• Surgically or traumatically implanted foreign bodies such as a pacemaker, implanted medical pump, implanted hearing aids, metal plate in the skull, or metal implant in the skull or eyes (other than dental appliances or fillings) that may pose a physical hazard during TEP.
• Study would cause undue risk or stress for reasons such as tendency to fall, excessive fatigue, general frailty, or excessive apprehensiveness.
• Dementia as assessed by the Folstein's Mini-Mental Test Examination (MMSE less than or equal to 24/30) or mentally impaired patients having no capacity to provide their own consent (the physician establishing the diagnosis and applying UPDRS will evaluate patient's mental capacity using conventional clinical interview)
• Unable to walk a 10-meter distance.
• More than occasional falls, i.e. daily falls (corresponding to a score greater than or equal to 3 and more in UPDRS item 13), history of fall(s) with significant injuries, absence of postural response in the on condition and/or spontaneous loss of balance in the off condition (corresponding to a score of greater than or equal to 2 and greater than or equal to 3 in on/off condition, respectively, in UPDRS item 30)
• Pregnancy is unusual in patients with PD, grade 2-4. Urine sample for the pregnancy test will be obtained in patients of childbearing potential prior to the iTBS start, at the day of the initial interview and signing the consent form. Women of childbearing potential will be asked to take appropriate measures to prevent a pregnancy during the study.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Mark Hallett: lead
• National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike

Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States

Location

Related Publications (3)

• Aarsland D, Larsen JP, Waage O, Langeveld JH. Maintenance electroconvulsive therapy for Parkinson's disease. Convuls Ther. 1997 Dec;13(4):274-7.

  PMID: 9437571 BACKGROUND

• Baudewig J, Siebner HR, Bestmann S, Tergau F, Tings T, Paulus W, Frahm J. Functional MRI of cortical activations induced by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Neuroreport. 2001 Nov 16;12(16):3543-8. doi: 10.1097/00001756-200111160-00034.

  PMID: 11733708 BACKGROUND

• Belmaker RH, Grisaru N. Magnetic stimulation of the brain in animal depression models responsive to ECS. J ECT. 1998 Sep;14(3):194-205.

  PMID: 9773358 BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Parkinson Disease; Hypokinesia

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Parkinsonian Disorders; Basal Ganglia Diseases; Brain Diseases; Central Nervous System Diseases; Nervous System Diseases; Movement Disorders; Synucleinopathies; Neurodegenerative Diseases; Dyskinesias; Neurologic Manifestations; Signs and Symptoms; Pathological Conditions, Signs and Symptoms

Results Point of Contact

• Title: David H. Benninger, MD
• Organization: Department of Neurology, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois

David.Benninger@chuv.ch

Publication Agreements

• PI is Sponsor Employee: Yes
• Restrictive Agreement: No

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: phase 1
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: DOUBLE
• Who Masked: PARTICIPANT, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: NIH
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Principal Investigator

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: September 13, 2008
• First Posted: September 16, 2008
• Study Start: September 1, 2008
• Primary Completion: September 1, 2009
• Study Completion: September 1, 2009
• Last Updated: November 15, 2012
• Results First Posted: November 15, 2012

Record last verified: 2012-10

Locations

US (1)