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PainNCT00341367

Blood Sample Donations to Study the Role of Genes in Pain

An observational study of Pain, run by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) 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

This study attempts to identify genes that may increase or decrease the likelihood of sciatic pain (shooting pain down the leg) persisting 1 year after treatment of a herniated spinal disc. Many proteins in the nerves, spinal cord, and brain are involved in processing pain. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Any age
Conditions the study is for
Pain
How many people
320 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
10 Dec 2002to 11 Mar 2010
Phase
Observational
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 Any age
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Child, Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Presented to Maine orthopedic or neurosurgeon approximately 10 years ago with complaint of sciatica and was enrolled in Maine Lumbar Spine Study.
  • Outcome dataset includes ratings of low back and leg pain at baseline and at least one followup evaluation.

Who cannot join

None listed.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • Maine Health Information Center

    South Portland, Maine

Other trials in United States

About this study

Official title: Genetic Risk of Chronic Pain After Acute Sciatica

This study attempts to identify genes that may increase or decrease the likelihood of sciatic pain (shooting pain down the leg) persisting 1 year after treatment of a herniated spinal disc. Many proteins in the nerves, spinal cord, and brain are involved in processing pain. These proteins vary slightly in different people. Animal studies have shown that rats and mice with certain types of proteins experience chronic pain after sciatic injury while those with other types do not. Better information about the role of genes in pain processing may lead to a test for the risk of chronic pain for specific individuals and more effective treatment approaches.

This study will include people who participated in the Maine Lumbar Pain Study of the natural history of spinal pain. The Maine study included patients treated for sciatic pain caused by a herniated disc. In this study, patients who did not improve with medical treatment were referred for surgery to remove the disc. Of those referred for surgery, 275 elected to have the operation, and 232 did not. One year after surgical consultation, leg pain was reduced in 81 percent of patients who underwent surgery. Of those who declined surgery, 56 percent improved after 1 year. This study will look for genetic differences in the non-surgical group that might reveal differences among those who improved and those who did not.

Read more

Participants will provide a blood sample (approximately 2 tablespoons) for genetic testing. They will also provide information on the ethnic background of their parents and grandparents. Different gene variants occur in different ethnic groups, so information on ethnic background will help researchers know what gene variants to look for. Participants will complete a questionnaire about their smoking history, because the same protein in the brain that responds to nicotine may also play a part in decreasing or increasing pain. Also, some surgeons believe that smoking can interfere with spinal bone healing. Information from this study will help resolve this question.

...

Read the detailed description

Many patients have persistent pain one year after herniated lumbar disc even when the disc is surgically removed or shrinks spontaneously. We hypothesize that the risk of persistent pain is modified by common variations in genes related to inflammation and pain processing. We propose to collect blood for DNA analysis from up to 500 patients who have been followed for 10 years after the onset of severe sciatica in the Maine Lumbar Spine Study. Based on the pain research literature, Human Genome databases, and gene studies in NIAAA's Laboratory of Neurogenetics, we will prioritize approximately 100 candidate genes with variants that affect the function of their proteins. We will type patients' DNA for these variants and compare their clinical data with their genotype at each candidate gene to see if common variants increase or decrease the risk of chronic pain. The primary phenotype variable will be the amount of persistent leg pain one year after pain onset, Identification of such associations, if replicated in future studies, may help to prioritize targets for drug treatments or identify genetic tests that can predict the prognosis of acute sciatica and assist in treatment choice.

Conditions
Pain
Keywords
Analgesic, Back Pain, Lumbar Disc, Nerve, Radiculopathy
Medical subject headings
Pain, Back Pain, Radiculopathy

Timeline

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

  1. First posted21 Jun 2006 (estimated)
  2. Study start10 Dec 2002
  3. Study completion11 Mar 2010

Resources

More details

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

Study design
Study type
Observational
Enrolment
320 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT00341367
Sponsor's protocol ID
999903070
Other IDs
03-AA-N070
Status last verified
11 Mar 2010
First submitted
19 Jun 2006
Last updated
2 Jul 2017
Results posted
No

Publications

  • Atlas SJ, Deyo RA, Keller RB, Chapin AM, Patrick DL, Long JM, Singer DE. The Maine Lumbar Spine Study, Part II. 1-year outcomes of surgical and nonsurgical management of sciatica. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 1996 Aug 1;21(15):1777-86. doi: 10.1097/00007632-199608010-00011.

    PubMed 8855462
  • Atlas SJ, Keller RB, Chang Y, Deyo RA, Singer DE. Surgical and nonsurgical management of sciatica secondary to a lumbar disc herniation: five-year outcomes from the Maine Lumbar Spine Study. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2001 May 15;26(10):1179-87. doi: 10.1097/00007632-200105150-00017.

    PubMed 11413434
  • Deyo RA. Low-back pain. Sci Am. 1998 Aug;279(2):48-53. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0898-48. No abstract available.

    PubMed 9674171

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Pain, run by National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) 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 2 inclusion and 0 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.

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.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00341367, 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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