NCT03111290

Brief Summary

Purpose: To investigate whether rhythmic direct electrical stimulation (DES) causes entrainment of endogenous neural oscillatory activity and whether such activity improve cognition. Participants: Drug-resistant epilepsy patients undergoing epilepsy surgery cortical mapping with continuous electrocorticography (ECoG) with intracranial electrodes. Procedures (methods): Rhythmic electrical stimulation will be delivered via intracranial electrodes during routine extra-operative cortical mapping. Long-term ECoG, Pre-stimulation ECoG, peri-stimulation ECoG, and post-stimulation ECoG data will be analyzed to assess for entrainment of neural oscillations.

Trial Health

15
At Risk

Trial Health Score

Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach

Trial has exceeded expected completion date
Timeline
Completed

Started Jan 2014

Typical duration for not_applicable

Status
withdrawn

Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.

Trial Relationships

Click on a node to explore related trials.

Study Timeline

Key milestones and dates

Study Start

First participant enrolled

January 1, 2014

Completed
3.1 years until next milestone

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

February 22, 2017

Completed
21 days until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

March 15, 2017

Completed
Same day until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

March 15, 2017

Completed
28 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

April 12, 2017

Completed
Last Updated

March 19, 2026

Status Verified

January 1, 2025

Enrollment Period

3.2 years

First QC Date

February 22, 2017

Last Update Submit

March 16, 2026

Conditions

Keywords

Facial recognition

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (2)

  • Working Memory Task Performance - Accuracy

    In this task, a sequence of items (alphabets or numerals) is presented followed by a delay. Following this, a single item which may or may not have been in the sequence is presented and the subject will be asked to indicate whether the item was in the previously presented sequence. A total of 150 trials will be performed with randomly interleaved sham trials where no stimulation is applied. Accuracy will be quantified in percentage correct.

    1 Hour

  • Working Memory Task Performance - Reaction Time

    In this task, a sequence of items (alphabets or numerals) is presented followed by a delay. Following this, a single item which may or may not have been in the sequence is presented and the subject will be asked to indicate whether the item was in the previously presented sequence. A total of 150 trials will be performed with randomly interleaved sham trials where no stimulation is applied. Reaction times will be quantified in milliseconds.

    1 Hour

Secondary Outcomes (1)

  • Intracranial EEG

    Intracranial EEG will be collected simultaneously when the participants perform the task. 1 Hour

Other Outcomes (2)

  • Facial Recognition Task Performance - Accuracy

    1 Hour

  • Facial Recognition Task Performance - Reaction Time

    1 Hour

Study Arms (2)

Sham

SHAM COMPARATOR

Device: Direct Cortical Stimulation Sham. Trials in which stimulation is not applied. These trials are initiated using a generic trigger generator.

Device: Direct Cortical Stimulation Sham

Stimulation

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Device: Direct Cortical Stimulation. 150 stimulations with stimulations lasting 5 seconds at different target electrodes at two target frequencies (e.g. 5 Hz and 10 Hz) 2 milliampere in amplitude (Pulse shape - Biphasic square pulse 200 microsecond in duration per phase). Stimulation will be applied concurrently with the task and stimulation trials will be randomly interleaved with sham trials.

Device: Direct Cortical Stimulation

Interventions

A train of periodic electrical pulses is delivered between two local electrodes implanted in the brain

Stimulation

Sham trials where no electric pulse is delivered

Sham

Eligibility Criteria

Age18 Years - 80 Years
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsAdult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

  • History of medically intractable epilepsy
  • Capable of giving informed consent
  • Aged 18 - 80 years, either sex

You may not qualify if:

  • Past or current history of other neurological illnesses including ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage, brain neoplasm.
  • Major systemic illness
  • Severe cognitive impairment defined as mini-mental state examination of less than 20
  • Severe psychiatric illness
  • Excessive use of alcohol or other substances

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Related Publications (1)

  • Alagapan S, Schmidt SL, Lefebvre J, Hadar E, Shin HW, Frӧhlich F. Modulation of Cortical Oscillations by Low-Frequency Direct Cortical Stimulation Is State-Dependent. PLoS Biol. 2016 Mar 29;14(3):e1002424. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002424. eCollection 2016 Mar.

    PMID: 27023427BACKGROUND

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Epilepsy

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Brain DiseasesCentral Nervous System DiseasesNervous System Diseases

Study Officials

  • Flavio Frohlich, PhD

    University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
  • Hae Won Shin, MD

    University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
0

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
NON RANDOMIZED
Masking
SINGLE
Who Masked
PARTICIPANT
Purpose
BASIC SCIENCE
Intervention Model
CROSSOVER
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

February 22, 2017

First Posted

April 12, 2017

Study Start

January 1, 2014

Primary Completion

March 15, 2017

Study Completion

March 15, 2017

Last Updated

March 19, 2026

Record last verified: 2025-01

Data Sharing

IPD Sharing
Will share

De-identified electrophysiology data and task information (e.g. timing of each trial, timing of responses) will be shared at the end of the study in a central repository (e.g. zenodo)

Available IPD Datasets

Summary Data Set Access