Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation in Back Pain- Pilot Sudy

NCT ID: NCT03243084

Last Updated: 2018-12-12

Study Results

Results available

Outcome measurements, participant flow, baseline characteristics, and adverse events have been published for this study.

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Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

21 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2017-09-07

Study Completion Date

2018-01-10

Brief Summary

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Chronic pain is a severe disabling problem within society, affecting 25-30% of the United States population.. Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) has the potential to provide a treatment option that is safe, scientifically-supported, low-cost, and easy-to-administer method to effectively reduce symptoms in patients suffering from chronic pain. The purpose of this study is to test the feasibility of using tACS to treat patients with chronic pain, and to collect pilot efficacy as well as EEG and EKG biomarker data for optimizing the design of subsequent large-scale studies. The treatment rationale is to renormalize the presumed pathological structure of alpha oscillations in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of patients with chronic pain.

Detailed Description

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Conditions

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Chronic Low Back Pain

Keywords

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tACS transcranial alternating current stimulation low back pain chronic pain alpha oscillations heart rate variability

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

CROSSOVER

Each participant will receive sham stimulation and 10Hz tACS stimulation at two separate sessions. The order will be randomized (ie, half the participants will receive sham stimulation at the first session and 10Hz tACS stimulation at the second session, and the other half will receive 10Hz tACS stimulation at the first session and sham stimulation at the second session).
Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Participants Investigators
This is a double-blind study, meaning that neither the participant nor the experimenter knows what kind of stimulation the participant is receiving. An unblinded monitor (separate from the staff that interacts with the participant) is responsible for creating the stimulation codes that run each session and for ensuring that these codes worked correctly.

Study Groups

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Sham tACS

Sham Stimulation mimics the physical effects of stimulation, with up to one minute of stimulation during the session. Sham stimulation is delivered using the XCSITE100 Stimulator Sham.

Group Type SHAM_COMPARATOR

XCSITE100 Stimulator Sham

Intervention Type DEVICE

The participant will receive up to one minute of tACS stimulation until the stimulation fades. Sham stimulation mimics the skin sensations a participant would experience during a tACS session

Active 10 Hz tACS

Participants will receive 2mA of alternating current stimulation at a frequency of 10Hz for 40 minutes. tACS stimulation is delivered using the XCSITE100 Stimulator tACS.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

XCSITE100 Stimulator tACS

Intervention Type DEVICE

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a method of noninvasive brain stimulation in which weak electrical current are applied to the scalp in a sine wave pattern to induce cortical oscillations at the frequency at which they are applied

Interventions

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XCSITE100 Stimulator Sham

The participant will receive up to one minute of tACS stimulation until the stimulation fades. Sham stimulation mimics the skin sensations a participant would experience during a tACS session

Intervention Type DEVICE

XCSITE100 Stimulator tACS

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a method of noninvasive brain stimulation in which weak electrical current are applied to the scalp in a sine wave pattern to induce cortical oscillations at the frequency at which they are applied

Intervention Type DEVICE

Other Intervention Names

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Sham tACS tACS

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Male or female, aged 18-65
* Diagnosed with nonspecific chronic low back pain by clinician
* BMI is less than 30
* Suffered from chronic pain for \> 6 months
* Self-report pain measures \>4
* Meets criteria for low depression and suicide risk as defined by the Hamilton-Depression Rating Scale
* Capacity to understand all relevant risks and potential benefits of the study (informed consent)
* Not currently taking opioids, benzodiazepines, and anticonvulsant medications

Exclusion Criteria

* Radicular Pain
* Traumatic brain injury, Any brain devices/implants, including cochlear implants and aneurysm clips
* History of major neurological or psychiatric illness, including epilepsy
* (For females) Pregnancy or breast feeding
* Diagnosis of eating disorder (current or within the past 6 months), Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (lifetime), or Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (currently under treatment)
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Sponsors

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National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

NIH

Sponsor Role collaborator

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Responsibility Role SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

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Karen McCulloch, PhD, DPT

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Locations

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University of North Carolina Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

Site Status

Countries

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United States

References

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Prim JH, Ahn S, Davila MI, Alexander ML, McCulloch KL, Frohlich F. Targeting the Autonomic Nervous System Balance in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain Using Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation: A Randomized, Crossover, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study. J Pain Res. 2019 Dec 11;12:3265-3277. doi: 10.2147/JPR.S208030. eCollection 2019.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 31849514 (View on PubMed)

Ahn S, Prim JH, Alexander ML, McCulloch KL, Frohlich F. Identifying and Engaging Neuronal Oscillations by Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation in Patients With Chronic Low Back Pain: A Randomized, Crossover, Double-Blind, Sham-Controlled Pilot Study. J Pain. 2019 Mar;20(3):277.e1-277.e11. doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2018.09.004. Epub 2018 Sep 27.

Reference Type DERIVED
PMID: 30268803 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol and Statistical Analysis Plan

View Document

Other Identifiers

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R01MH101547

Identifier Type: NIH

Identifier Source: secondary_id

View Link

17-0870

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id