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Parkinson DiseasePhase 1NCT00063284

Investigating the Safety of srTMS in the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease

A Phase 1 study testing Magstim Rapid Magnetic Stimulator in people with Parkinson Disease, run by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

Super rapid transcranial magnetic stimulation (srTMS) is a method of brain stimulation that may be able to change the electrical activity of the nerve cells of the brain. It has been proposed and tested as a treatment for brain disorders, including Parkinson's disease. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 40 to 80 years
Conditions the study is for
Parkinson Disease
What is being tested?
Magstim Rapid Magnetic Stimulator
Type of treatment
Medical device
How many people
10 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
18 Jun 2003to 15 Apr 2009
Phase
Phase 1
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 40 to 80 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Subjects will be men and women aged 40 to 80 years with DOPA-responsive, akinetic-rigid PD.
  • After obtaining the informed consent, patients will be interviewed and examined by either the prinicipal investigator (PI) or a Brain Stimulation Unit (BSU) or an HMCS physician to establish the diagnosis of PD and rule out any other neurologic condition.
  • Only patients with a Hoehn and Yahr grade of 2 to 4 while 'off' will be accepted.
  • Patients must be on a regimen including L-DOPA, and they must have a total dose of medication equal to more than 300 mg of L-DOPA equivalent, including their dopamine agonist agents.
  • Any patient whose record does not contain a neurological examination from the past year will be reexamined before enrollment.

Who cannot join

  • Any significant medical or psychiatric illness (other than PD), pregnancy, history of epilepsy, or concurrent use of tricyclic antidepressants, neuroleptic agents, or any other licit or illicit drugs other than antiparkinsonian agents that could lower the seizure threshold.
  • Persons with surgically or traumatically implanted foreign bodies such as a pacemaker, or any implanted stimulators, an implanted medication pump, a metal plate in the skull, or metal inside the skull or eyes (other than dental appliances or fillings) that may pose a physical hazard during magnetic stimulation will also be excluded.
  • Most of these exclusions also come under the category of significant medical illness. Patients for whom participation in the study would, in the opinion of the investigators, cause undue risk or stress for reasons such as tendency to fall, excessive fatigue, general fatigue, general frailty, or excessive apprehensiveness will also be excluded.
  • A urine sample for the pregnancy test will be obtained from any women of childbearing potential prior to the start of srTMS, on the day of the initial interview and signing of the consent form. Pregnant women will be excluded from the study.
  • Mentally impaired patients who have no capacity to provide their own consent will be excluded from the study.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike

    Bethesda, Maryland, 20892

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Safety Study of the Super Rapid Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Patients With Parkinson's Disease

Super rapid transcranial magnetic stimulation (srTMS) is a method of brain stimulation that may be able to change the electrical activity of the nerve cells of the brain. It has been proposed and tested as a treatment for brain disorders, including Parkinson's disease.

The purpose of this study is to use a device called the magnetic stimulator to investigate the safe limit of srTMS, such as intensity of stimulation and the number of magnetic pulses that may lead to excessive brain stimulation.

Ten patients with Parkinson's disease-whose main problems are slowness of movement and difficulty walking-will participate in this study. They will be asked to come to the laboratory for one experiment. Before and after srTMS treatment, investigators will test participants' brain function with a series of psychological tests and an EEG (electroencephalogram). The srTMS treatment is performed by placing an insulated coil of wire on the scalp and passing a very brief electrical current through the wire coil. The experiment will last 2 to 4 hours.

Read the detailed description

The treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD) needs further improvement, particularly in the areas of gait and freezing. A promising technique is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) that, so far, has produced small effects on bradykinesia in drug free patients in limited trials. The relevant rTMS parameters for the therapeutic effect are unknown. Use of very high rTMS frequency (50 Hz, maximum output of the modern TMS machines, super rapid TMS [srTMS] with circular coil design [vs. a figure eight shape]) may further improve the therapeutic effect in people who have PD. The 50 Hz srTMS frequency proposed here is in a range that exceeds the currently established guidelines since such high frequencies have not been investigated. We will look for acute srTMS effects of the primary motor cortex (M1) stimulation (60% to 100% motor threshold [MT] intensity, 0.5 seconds to 2 seconds train duration). A multi-channel electromyography (EMG) record will be visually controlled for signs of increasing time-locked EMG activity, EMG correlates of the spread of excitation through M1, or an increase of M1 excitability to establish the safe superrapid transcranial magnetic stimulation (srTMS) limit. The electroencephalogram (EEG) Record, Folstein Mini-Mental Exam, CFL and FAS Letter Production Test (words beginning with letters 'C', 'F' etc), Serial Reaction Time, Grooved Pegboard Test, and Unified PD Rating Scale (UPDRS) will be done before and after the srTMS session to control possible srTMS side effects.

Being tested
Magstim Rapid Magnetic Stimulator
Keywords
Electrical Stimulation, Human Brain, Parkinson Disease, PD
Medical subject headings
Parkinson Disease

What participants receive

What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.

  • Magstim Rapid Magnetic StimulatorDevice

What is being measured

The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.

  1. Testing the safety limit (SL) of 50 Hz srTMS.

    Measured: Single visit

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted25 Jun 2003 (estimated)
  2. Study start18 Jun 2003
  3. Study completion15 Apr 2009

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Interventional
Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrolment
10 participants
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT00063284
Sponsor's protocol ID
030220
Other IDs
03-N-0220
Status last verified
15 Apr 2009
First submitted
24 Jun 2003
Last updated
2 Jul 2017
Results posted
No

Publications

  • 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.

    PubMed 11733708
  • Aarsland D, Larsen JP, Waage O, Langeveld JH. Maintenance electroconvulsive therapy for Parkinson's disease. Convuls Ther. 1997 Dec;13(4):274-7.

    PubMed 9437571
  • Belmaker RH, Grisaru N. Magnetic stimulation of the brain in animal depression models responsive to ECS. J ECT. 1998 Sep;14(3):194-205.

    PubMed 9773358

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

A Phase 1 study testing Magstim Rapid Magnetic Stimulator in people with Parkinson Disease, run by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 5 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 2 Jul 2017. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

What does this phase mean?

Phase 1 studies test a treatment in a small group of people for the first time or in a new way, mainly to check safety and find the right dose.

Not every study follows the same path, and some studies (observational studies, device studies) have no phase.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Testing the safety limit (SL) of 50 Hz srTMS. (time frame: Single visit). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00063284, which also lists 3 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 2 Jul 2017.

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