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Traumatic Brain InjuryNCT01194661

Neural Dynamics and Connectivity in Response Inhibition and Traumatic Brain Injury

An observational study of Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke, 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

Background: Previous research has shown that certain parts of the brain are involved in voluntarily stopping an ongoing motor response (movement); however, it is not known whether this same network is also involved in suppressing an urge to act. Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 to 40 yearsHealthy volunteers can take part
Conditions the study is for
Traumatic Brain Injury, Stroke, Headache
How many people
129 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
10 Aug 2010to 16 Nov 2017
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 18 to 40 years
  • All sexes
  • Healthy volunteers accepted
  • Adult

Who may be able to join

  • Age 18 to 40
  • Able to give consent
  • Normal clinical examination for healthy subjects
  • Must be able to follow instructions and perform required tasks, and TBI patients must have the Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score of 25 or above.
  • Clearly right dominant handedness as assessed by Handedness scales
  • MILD TBI:
Show all 19Show fewer
  • Traumatically induced physiological disruption of brain function, as manifested by at least on the following:
  • Any loss of consciousness
  • Any loss of memory for events immediately before or after the accident (except for short-lasting benzodiazepines for sleep.
  • Focal neurological deficit(s) that may or may not be transient
  • Any alteration in metal state at the time of the accident (e.g. feeling dazed, disoriented or confused) and focal neurological deficit (s) that may or may not be transient, but where the severity of the injury does not exceed the following:
  • Loss of consciousness (LOC) of approximately 30 min
  • After 30 min, an initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) sore of 13 - 15 (or clinically diagnosed concussion) and
  • Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) not greater than 24 hour
  • Moderate TBI:
  • Those meeting the same criteria as mild TBI plus any one of the following:
  • GCS of 9-12 (if available) or results of a clinical evaluation as moderate TBI
  • Mental status change or LOC 30 min to 24 hour
  • PTA 1-7 days

Who cannot join

  • Being diagnosed as an alcoholic or with drug addiction.
  • Chronic use of medications acting primarily on the central nervous system such as those for seizures (e.g., carbamazepine, phenytoin) except for short-lasting benzodiazepines for sleep and antidepressants (e.g., SSRIs and SNRIs).
  • Pregnancy
  • Medical or technical contraindications to MRI procedures or devices producing artifacts that impair MRI signal (e.g., dental braces, pacemakers, implanted medication pumps, cochlear devices, neural stimulators, certain metals in the cranium, surgical clips, and other metal/magnetic implants, claustrophobia)
  • History of epilepsy (to avoid brain abnormalities other than mild to moderate TBI)
  • Less than three months post-TBI and with severe post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or PTSD Check List (PCL) score > 60
Show all 9Show fewer
  • Penetrating head wound
  • For healthy volunteer, history of brain injury and/or structural MRI abnormality.
  • Staff from our section

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

Background:

  • Previous research has shown that certain parts of the brain are involved in voluntarily stopping an ongoing motor response (movement); however, it is not known whether this same network is also involved in suppressing an urge to act. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can significantly impair the brain's ability to voluntarily stop or inhibit certain actions. Using brain imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI) and brain stimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS) to investigate how people perform activities that involve moving and suppressing movements, researchers hope to better understand how these brain areas might be affected in people who have had TBI.
Read more

Objectives:

  • To determine the parts of the brain involved in suppressing an urge to act.
  • To determine the extent to which traumatic brain injury affecting certain parts of the brain is involved in problems with suppressing an urge to move and stopping movement.

Eligibility:

  • Individuals 18 to 40 years of age who have had mild or moderate TBI, or are healthy volunteers.

Design:

  • This research study includes a screening visit and two study visits, each of which will last at least 2 hours.
  • Participants will be screened with a physical examination and medical history. Women who can become pregnant will have a urine pregnancy test before being allowed to participate in the study.
  • At the first study visit, participants will complete one of the following experiment tests in an MRI scanner.
  • Experiment 1: Participants will be shown arrows or images on a computer screen, and will press a button or not press a button depending on the image shown. Participants will practice the experiment tasks before performing them during MRI scans.
  • Experiment 2: Participants will be shown arrows or images on a computer screen, and will press a button or not press a button depending on the image shown. Participants will also have TMS while at rest, and will perform the experiment tasks during the MRI scan.
  • At the second study visit, participants will have an fMRI scan where they will be asked to do simple response tasks with a computer outside the MRI scanner.

Background:

  • Previous research has shown that certain parts of the brain are involved in voluntarily stopping an ongoing motor response (movement); however, it is not known whether this same network is also involved in suppressing an urge to act. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can significantly impair the brain's ability to voluntarily stop or inhibit certain actions. Using brain imaging (functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI) and brain stimulation (transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS) to investigate how people perform activities that involve moving and suppressing movements, researchers hope to better understand how these brain areas might be affected in people who have had TBI.

Objectives:

  • To determine the parts of the brain involved in suppressing an urge to act.
  • To determine the extent to which traumatic brain injury affecting certain parts of the brain is involved in problems with suppressing an urge to move and stopping movement.

Eligibility:

  • Individuals 18 to 40 years of age who have had mild or moderate TBI, or are healthy volunteers.

Design:

  • This research study includes a screening visit and two study visits, each of which will last at least 2 hours.
  • Participants will be screened with a physical examination and medical history. Women who can become pregnant will have a urine pregnancy test before being allowed to participate in the study.
  • At the first study visit, participants will complete one of the following experiment tests in an MRI scanner.
  • Experiment 1: Participants will be shown arrows or images on a computer screen, and will press a button or not press a button depending on the image shown. Participants will practice the experiment tasks before performing them during MRI scans.
  • Experiment 2: Participants will be shown arrows or images on a computer screen, and will press a button or not press a button depending on the image shown. Participants will also have TMS while at rest, and will perform the experiment tasks during the MRI scan.
  • At the second study visit, participants will have an fMRI scan where they will be asked to do simple response tasks with a computer outside the MRI scanner.
Read the detailed description

Objectives

Voluntarily stopping an on-going motor response has been shown to engage a specific prefrontal-basal-ganglia (PBG) neural network. However, it is not known whether the PBG network is also crucial for other types of response inhibition such as suppressing an urge to act (i.e., habitual impulse), a common impairment after traumatic brain injury (TBI). The objectives of this protocol are: 1) to determine whether the PBG network is engaged in suppressing habitual impulses and, 2) to determine the extent to which the (PBG) neural network can account for the deficiency in response inhibition after mild to moderate traumatic brain injury (TBI). The proposed studies will involve performance of simple behavioral tasks, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). tDCS will be applied separately from fMRI scans. TMS will be applied separately or concurrently during fMRI scans.

Study Population

One hundred and ninety healthy adult volunteers and 95 patients with mild to moderate TBI will be recruited under the protocol. Eighty of the healthy volunteers and 80 of the patients will be recruited under the project funded by the Center for Neuroscience and Rehabilitative Medicine (CNRM) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS).

Design

There are five experiments. Experiment 1 includes healthy adult volunteers and mild to moderate TBI patients to determine whether the PBG inhibitory network is engaged in the suppression of an undesirable habitual impulse. Subjects will perform simple motor response tasks during fMRI scans. Experiment 2 will use fMRI with behavioral tasks and apply single-pulse TMS during fMRI scans when subjects are at rest to examine whether changes in the active and resting neural connectivity within the PBG network are associated with deficiency in response inhibition after mild to moderate TBI. Experiment 3 will involve only healthy volunteers to determine the effect of disruption of critical links/brain regions within the PBG network on response inhibition. Inhibitory rTMS (i.e., 1Hz repetitive TMS with stimulation intensity at 80% of a subject s own resting motor threshold [rMT]) will be applied in separate groups of subjects immediately before the behavioral tasks. Experiments 4-5 will use similar response tasks as in Experiment 1 but with patients who have had blast induced concussion(s). tDCS will be applied in Experiment 5 to examine the extent to which tDCS may change connectivity and improve rapid response inhibition. Additional behavioral measures, DTI, and high-resolution structural MRI images will be acquired in a separate session for all subjects.

Outcome Measures

Major outcome measures will include: 1) Task and TMS induced fMRI BOLD signal change and, 2) Behavioral performance data (reaction time and accuracy). Secondary measures: White matter fiber integrity and fiber tracking based on diffusion tensor imaging data.

Keywords
Inhibitory Control, Executive Function, fMRI, TMS, TBI, Traumatic Brain Injury, Healthy Volunteer, HV
Medical subject headings
Brain Injuries, Traumatic, Stroke, Headache, Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic

What is being measured

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

  1. Task-dependent and independent fMRI BOLD signal

    Measured: Ongoing

  2. TMS effects on behavioral performance

    Measured: Ongoing

Secondary outcomes (2)
  1. Behavioral performance data (reaction time and accuracy)

    Measured: Ongoing

  2. White matter fiber integrity in TBI patients estimated by the degree of fractional anisotropy (FA) from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) signals.

    Measured: Ongoing

Timeline

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

  1. First posted3 Sep 2010 (estimated)
  2. Study start10 Aug 2010
  3. Study completion16 Nov 2017

Resources

More details

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

Study design
Study type
Observational
Observational model
Cohort
Time perspective
Other
Enrolment
129 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT01194661
Sponsor's protocol ID
100185
Other IDs
10-N-0185
Status last verified
16 Nov 2017
First submitted
2 Sep 2010
Last updated
19 Nov 2019
Results posted
No

Publications

  • Anderson JR. Automaticity and the ACT* theory. Am J Psychol. 1992 Summer;105(2):165-80.

    PubMed 1621879
  • Aron AR, Poldrack RA. Cortical and subcortical contributions to Stop signal response inhibition: role of the subthalamic nucleus. J Neurosci. 2006 Mar 1;26(9):2424-33. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4682-05.2006.

    PubMed 16510720
  • Aron AR, Behrens TE, Smith S, Frank MJ, Poldrack RA. Triangulating a cognitive control network using diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional MRI. J Neurosci. 2007 Apr 4;27(14):3743-52. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0519-07.2007.

    PubMed 17409238

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke, 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 19 inclusion and 9 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 19 Nov 2019. 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.

What does the primary outcome measure?

Task-dependent and independent fMRI BOLD signal (time frame: Ongoing). The study lists 2 primary outcomes in all. 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 NCT01194661, 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 19 Nov 2019.

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