Home-based Transcranial Stimulation in the Treatment of Patients With Refractory Chronic Pain
Brain and Pain (BaP): Understanding the Central Mechanisms of Pain to Improve Management of Patients With Refractory Chronic Pain
2 other identifiers
interventional
120
1 country
1
Brief Summary
Refractory chronic pain represents a serious and limiting health condition which does not respond to standard pharmacological therapy. Thus, it emerges the necessity of new techniques to treat these group of diseases, such as the transcranial electrical stimulation (tES). This procedure induces a low-intensity electrical current through the scalp to modify the excitability of brain cells, thus facilitating changes in neural networks which may be dysfunctional in some chronic pain patients. The main objective of this research is to test the efficacy of two tES techniques, differentiated by applying direct or alternant electrical current, to reduce the pain intensity and to increase pain thresholds of these patients. Besides, intervention is implemented at home for patients themselves thanks to a portable and convenient stimulator device, after one training session provided by technicians. Researches can supervise the compliance of the treatment remotely, as the stimulator has a permanent connection with their computers. A home-based approach means a more comfortable and accessible treatment alternative for patients, since they do not have to attend to clinics everyday to receive the stimulation; the advantages become even more relevant in the pandemic context, since the risk of being infected is radically minimized. Despite the main purpose is to test the efficacy of tES to improve the pain suffered by patients, many other areas are considered as secondary end points for being intrinsically linked or affected by the disease, such as the interference in daily tasks provoked by pain, mood disorders (depression/anxiety), fatigue, life quality, physical functioning and sleep quality; these last two variables are measured with actigraph wristwatches, apart from specific questionnaires. Lastly, endogenous modulatory pain mechanisms are examined through sensory tests, namely Conditioned Pain Modulation and Temporal Summation of pain.
Trial Health
Trial Health Score
Automated assessment based on enrollment pace, timeline, and geographic reach
participants targeted
Target at P50-P75 for not_applicable chronic-pain
Started Jan 2022
1 active site
Health score is calculated from publicly available data and should be used for screening purposes only.
Trial Relationships
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Study Timeline
Key milestones and dates
First Submitted
Initial submission to the registry
August 30, 2021
CompletedFirst Posted
Study publicly available on registry
October 29, 2021
CompletedStudy Start
First participant enrolled
January 1, 2022
CompletedPrimary Completion
Last participant's last visit for primary outcome
May 1, 2023
CompletedStudy Completion
Last participant's last visit for all outcomes
May 1, 2023
CompletedOctober 29, 2021
October 1, 2021
1.3 years
August 30, 2021
October 18, 2021
Conditions
Keywords
Outcome Measures
Primary Outcomes (1)
Self-reported pain intensity
Participants must evaluate the intensity of their pain using an online version of a Numerical Rating Scale of eleven points (0-10), so that the higher the score is, the worse the pain is.
Pre-treatment measure is the average of pain intensity of fifteen days previous to treatment; whereas the post-treatment measure is the average of fifteen days after treatment have finished
Secondary Outcomes (14)
Global severity of chronic pain syndrome
Participants will complete MPI one or two days before the treatment onset, and one or two days after treatment ending.
Pressure pain threshold
Pressure pain thresholds will be assessed in face-to-face laboratory sessions, which would take place one or two days before the treatment onset and one or two days after treatment ending.
Heat pain threshold
Heat pain thresholds will be assessed in face-to-face laboratory sessions, which would take place one or two days before the treatment onset and one or two days after treatment ending.
Interference in daily living caused by pain
Pain interference will be assessed in face-to-face laboratory sessions, which would take place one or two days before the treatment onset and one or two days after treatment ending.
Life quality
Life quality will be assessed one or two days before the treatment onset and one or two days after treatment ending.
- +9 more secondary outcomes
Other Outcomes (3)
Endogenous pain inhibition response
CPM procedure will be performed at two time-points, this is, one or two days before and after treatment, in order to assess if tES treatment is capable of restoring any dysfunction in this inhibitory pain network.
Endogenous pain facilitation response
TSSP procedure will be performed at two time-points, this is, one or two days before and after treatment, in order to assess if tES treatment is capable of restoring any dysfunction in this facilitatory pain network.
Electrical brain activity over diverse conditions
EEG will be registered at two time-points, this is, one or two days before and one or two days after treatment.
Study Arms (3)
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
ACTIVE COMPARATORFifteen stimulation sessions applied with a daily frequency during an uninterrupted period of time which comprises just over two weeks. Current intensity of 2mA is applied during 20 minutes at the left M1, with anodal electrode placed in C3 and cathodal in FP2, following the International 10-20 EEG System. Ramp-up and ramp-down comprises 15 seconds at the beginning and end of the stimulation period.
Transcranial alternant current stimulation (tACS)
ACTIVE COMPARATORFifteen stimulation sessions applied with a daily frequency during an uninterrupted period of time which comprises just over two weeks. Two electrodes will be placed at F3 and F4 and connected together for 10-Hz tACS (or the frequency which shows best sensitivity or specificity), and one electrode at Pz will be the return electrode. This setting is used to stimulate the somatosensory cortical region. Stimulation will last for 20 minutes, with a ramp-up and ramp-down of 15 seconds at the beginning and end of the session.
Sham stimulation
PLACEBO COMPARATORThe electrode montage will be either the tDCS (for half of the participants) or the tACS montage (for the other half), and we will just apply the current at the ramps terms, but no current in the interval between the ramps which practically comprises the whole session. As for the two other group, fifteen sham stimulation sessions will be daily scheduled in a non-interrupted period of two weeks.
Interventions
By applying a low current over the cortex through the scalp, this technique can excite or inhibit the neural activity, thus modulating brain processes like pain perception and inducing relatively sustained changes in cortical excitability and neuroplasticity. Home-based transcranial electrical stimulation device consists of a custom headgear with fixed electrode sites and built-in cabling made for a simplistic setup for tDCS/tACS stimulation. Systems are equipped with strict dose control feature that provide reliable control over the intensity and timing of stimulation, turning these devices into a feasible and safe clinical alternative. The equipment is specifically designed for easy and simplistic self-setup and allows the researchers to remotely check the position of electrodes and also monitor the stimulation session.
Eligibility Criteria
You may qualify if:
- Suffering a chronic pain condition of non-cancer nature. Those patients who report chronic pain even after overcoming an oncological process are suitable to participate, but only if they have received the definitive medical discharge and have been free from radiotherapy/chemotherapy for at least twelve months.
- Adult subjects (18-65 years old).
- Subjects able to provide informed consent to participate in the study and to self-report pain.
- Existing chronic pain which reaches an intensity of at least 4 on a 0-10 Numeric Rating Scale (NRS) on average over the past 3 months prior to enrolment.
- Pain intensity of at least 5 on a 0-10 NRS over the week prior to enrolment.
- Diagnosis of pharmaco-resistance to analgesic drugs across the WHO ladder.
- Pharmacological regimen have kept stable for at least two months previous to the enrolment, and it must not suffer modifications during the whole research period.
You may not qualify if:
- Chronic pain derived from current cancer disease.
- Pregnant women or women in fertile age not having efficacious contraception during the whole period of the study.
- History of alcohol or drug abuse within the past 6 months as self-reported.
- Suffering from unstable medical conditions (e.g., uncontrolled diabetes, uncompensated cardiac issues, heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease).
- Intracranial ferromagnetic devices or implanted stimulator (basal ganglia stimulator, vagus nerve stimulation).
- Antecedents of, or active epilepsy.
- History of neurosurgery, psychiatric diseases other than anxiety or depression, traumatic brain injury with loss of consciousness, and/or cortical lesions.
Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.
Sponsors & Collaborators
Study Sites (1)
University of Santiago de Compostela
Santiago de Compostela, A Coruña, 15701, Spain
Related Publications (37)
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PMID: 40735279DERIVED
MeSH Terms
Conditions
Interventions
Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)
Study Officials
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
María Teresa Carrillo de la Peña
University of Santiago de Compostela
Central Study Contacts
Study Design
- Study Type
- interventional
- Phase
- not applicable
- Allocation
- RANDOMIZED
- Masking
- QUADRUPLE
- Who Masked
- PARTICIPANT, CARE PROVIDER, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
- Masking Details
- Portable devices for applying the transcranial electrical stimulation are equipped with a software which allows a double-blinded procedure. The same computer program is in charge of randomly allocating patients to one of the three treatment groups. Thus, nor the researchers neither the participants will know what kind of stimulation is receiving each of them.
- Purpose
- TREATMENT
- Intervention Model
- PARALLEL
- Sponsor Type
- OTHER
- Responsible Party
- PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
- PI Title
- Titular university professor (PhD)
Study Record Dates
First Submitted
August 30, 2021
First Posted
October 29, 2021
Study Start
January 1, 2022
Primary Completion
May 1, 2023
Study Completion
May 1, 2023
Last Updated
October 29, 2021
Record last verified: 2021-10
Data Sharing
- IPD Sharing
- Will not share