NCT05100888

Brief Summary

The major target of the study is to confirm the safety and efficacy of our augmented protocol of theta-burst TMS in schizophrenia. Our aim is to confirm the beneficial effects of rTMS treatment on multiple aspects of the disorder such as (1) clinical aspect in terms of PANSS, (2) cognitive aspect such as emotion recognition (ER) and working memory (WM) / distractor filtering (DF) performance, and (3) neurobiology in terms of electrophysiology correlates of ER, WM and DF such as ERPs, event related theta synchronization, resting state theta power, and network connectivity. Response prediction to (theta-burst) TB-rTMS will be the exploratory part of the study.

Trial Health

87
On Track

Trial Health Score

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

Enrollment
76

participants targeted

Target at P50-P75 for not_applicable

Timeline
Completed

Started Jul 2022

Longer than P75 for not_applicable

Geographic Reach
1 country

1 active site

Status
completed

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

First Submitted

Initial submission to the registry

October 19, 2021

Completed
10 days until next milestone

First Posted

Study publicly available on registry

October 29, 2021

Completed
9 months until next milestone

Study Start

First participant enrolled

July 11, 2022

Completed
3.7 years until next milestone

Primary Completion

Last participant's last visit for primary outcome

March 24, 2026

Completed
Same day until next milestone

Study Completion

Last participant's last visit for all outcomes

March 24, 2026

Completed
Last Updated

March 30, 2026

Status Verified

March 1, 2026

Enrollment Period

3.7 years

First QC Date

October 19, 2021

Last Update Submit

March 25, 2026

Conditions

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

  • Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale, Negative subscore

    The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) is a medical scale used for measuring symptom severity of patients with schizophrenia. It is the gold standard in the treatment monitoring of schizophrenia.The scale has three subscales : positive, negatve and general symptom score. We use the negative subscore as primary outcome. Its minimum and maximum scores are 7 and 49 respectively. Higher values indicate worse outcome.

    4 weeks

Secondary Outcomes (6)

  • Cognitive functioning/Short-Term Memory - The Digit Span Forward and Backward tests

    4 weeks

  • Cognitive functioning/Executive functioning - Wisconsin Card Sorting test

    4 weeks

  • Social cognition 1 - The Baron-Cohen 'Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test '

    4 weeks

  • Social cognition 2 - The 'Faux Pas' test.

    4 weeks

  • Facial Emotion Recogniton - Karolinska Directed Emotional Face set

    4 weeks

  • +1 more secondary outcomes

Study Arms (2)

Theta-burst rTMS

EXPERIMENTAL

Theta-burst repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

Device: repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)

Sham stimulation

SHAM COMPARATOR

Sham stimulation of the same location

Device: repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)

Interventions

Theta-burst stimulation

Sham stimulationTheta-burst rTMS

Eligibility Criteria

Age18 Years - 60 Years
Sexall
Healthy VolunteersNo
Age GroupsAdult (18-64)

You may qualify if:

  • diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder;
  • clinically stabilized on antipsychotic: a stable dose of antipsychotic medication for \>4 weeks;
  • age 18-60 years, and
  • presence of negative symptoms (based on PANSS): a negative subscore ≥16 points and \[one of items N1-N7 scoring ≥4 or two items N1-N7 scoring ≥3\]

You may not qualify if:

  • any significant neurological illness;
  • mental retardation
  • history of head injury with loss of consciousness for more than 1 hour
  • history of epileptic seizures or epileptic activity on the baseline EEG (evaluated by an expert in clinical EEG and epilepsy),
  • alcohol or drug abuse within the past 3 months, and
  • depressive episode or antidepressant treatment in the past 4 weeks.
  • Severe positive symptoms inferfere with cognitive tests
  • Implanted pacemaker, implanted drug pump, cochlear implant, implanted defibrillator, implanted neurostimulator or any other TMS incompatible implanted metal device
  • Skin surface is severly injured in the stimulated region of the skull
  • Sclerosis multiplex
  • Pregnancy
  • Severe sleep deprivation
  • Severe heart failure
  • Increased intracranial pressure
  • Untreated migrain

Contact the study team to confirm eligibility.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Study Sites (1)

Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy

Budapest, Budapest, 1083, Hungary

Location

Related Publications (1)

  • Csukly G, Orban-Szigeti B, Suri K, Zsigmond R, Herman L, Simon V, Kabaji A, Bata B, Harsfalvi P, Vass E, Csibri E, Farkas K, Rethelyi J. Theta-burst rTMS in schizophrenia to ameliorate negative and cognitive symptoms: study protocol for a double-blind, sham-controlled, randomized clinical trial. Trials. 2024 Apr 17;25(1):269. doi: 10.1186/s13063-024-08106-9.

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Schizophrenia

Interventions

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic DisordersMental Disorders

Intervention Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Magnetic Field TherapyTherapeutics

Study Design

Study Type
interventional
Phase
not applicable
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Masking
TRIPLE
Who Masked
PARTICIPANT, INVESTIGATOR, OUTCOMES ASSESSOR
Purpose
TREATMENT
Intervention Model
PARALLEL
Sponsor Type
OTHER
Responsible Party
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
PI Title
Assistant Professor

Study Record Dates

First Submitted

October 19, 2021

First Posted

October 29, 2021

Study Start

July 11, 2022

Primary Completion

March 24, 2026

Study Completion

March 24, 2026

Last Updated

March 30, 2026

Record last verified: 2026-03

Locations