Neuropathic PainTISNCT07735975
Effects and Mechanisms of Temporal Interference Stimulation (TIS) on Neuropathic Pain
A study testing Transcranial temporal interference stimulation in people with Neuropathic Pain and tTIS, run by Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, School of Medicine.
Trial summary
This study employs temporal interference stimulation (tTIS) to investigate the analgesic effects of tTIS on neuropathic pain and monitor changes in neural plasticity, and explore the dynamic relationship between analgesic efficacy and neural plasticity, thereby providing new strategies for the treatment of neuropathic… Read more about this study
- Who is it for?
- Ages 18 years and older
- Conditions the study is for
- Neuropathic Pain, tTIS
- What is being tested?
- Transcranial temporal interference stimulation
- Type of treatment
- Medical device
- Could I receive a placebo?
- Yes, some participants may receive a placebo
- How many people
- 60 participants
- Where
- No sites listed yet
- Study dates
- 1 Aug 2026to 31 Jan 2028
- Phase
- Interventional
- Are there results?
- Not yet: the study is under way
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 years and older
- All sexes
- No healthy volunteers
- Adult, Older adult
Who may be able to join
- IASP diagnosis of peripheral neuropathic pain;
- At least one month after the onset of pain;
- At least moderate pain intensity (≥ 3 assessed by VAS or NRS);
- 18 years or older;
- Stable medical treatment from 2 weeks before allocation to the end of the trial;
- Willing to receive TIS treatment and capable of fulfilling clinical assessments.
Who cannot join
- Contradictions to TIS treatment, such as metal implants or seizure;
- Serious psychiatric disorder (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score ≥ 35 or Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale score ≥ 29);
- Aphasia or cognitive disorders (Mini mental state examination ≤ 24);
- Severe clinical disorders caused by tumor or other conditions;
- Severe cardiopulmonary dysfunction or extreme weakness;
- History of substance abuse (alcohol, drugs).
About this study
This study employs temporal interference stimulation (tTIS) to investigate the analgesic effects of tTIS on neuropathic pain and monitor changes in neural plasticity, and explore the dynamic relationship between analgesic efficacy and neural plasticity, thereby providing new strategies for the treatment of neuropathic pain.
- Conditions
- Neuropathic Pain, tTIS
- Being tested
- Transcranial temporal interference stimulation
- Medical subject headings
- Neuralgia
What participants receive
What participants receive. In a randomised study each person is assigned to one group by chance.
Transcranial temporal interference stimulationDevice
Also called tTIS
tTIS was applied to the PAG contralateral to the pain side for a duration of 20 minutes, comprising a 30-second ramp-up phase and a 30-second ramp-down phase.
| Study group | Role | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| tTIS group | Experimental | Following enrollment, patients underwent TIS treatment administered twice daily over five consecutive days, for a total of ten sessions. The stimulation was targeted at the periaqueductal gray (PAG) region contralateral to the side of pain. Assessments were conducted before treatment (T0) and immediately after the treatment course (T1), evaluating pain perception, emotional changes, and quality of life. Additionally, local and whole-brain mechanisms were examined using TIS-EEG and fMRI. Receives: Device: Transcranial temporal interference stimulation |
| Sham group | Sham comparator | The sham group followed the same procedure as the TIS group. However, the electrical current was only delivered in a 30-second ramp-up at the beginning and a 30-second ramp-down at the end of each session to replicate the initial peripheral sensation without providing sustained therapeutic stimulation. Receives: Device: Transcranial temporal interference stimulation |
What is being measured
The primary outcome is the main question the study is designed to answer.
visual analogue scale(VAS)
It typically consists of a 10-centimeter straight line, with two endpoints representing extreme states of the measured experience. For example, when assessing pain, one end is labeled "0 (no pain at all)" and the other end "10 (worst pain imaginable, unbearable)".
Measured: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
Secondary outcomes (7)
short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ)
The Pain Rating Index of the Short-Form McGill Pain Questionnaire consists of 15 pain descriptors, including 11 sensory descriptors and 4 affective descriptors. Each item is rated from 0 (none) to 3 (severe). Item scores are summed to produce a total score ranging from 0 to 45, with higher scores indicating greater pain severity. The outcome measure is the change in the total Pain Rating Index score from baseline to Day 5 after intervention.
Measured: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
Brief Pain Inventory (BPI)
0 = "does not interfere" to 10 = "interferes completely" based on the past 24 hours.
Measured: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
The Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC)
Single-item structure: It consists of a single question that asks patients to rate how much their condition has changed since a specified baseline.2.7-point response scale: Responses range from "very much improved" (score 1) to "very much worse" (score 7), with intermediate options including "much improved," "minimally improved," "no change," "minimally worse," and "much worse."
Measured: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
17-items of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD)
The HAMD-17 provides a comprehensive, multi-dimensional snapshot of depression severity, heavily emphasizing sleep, physical (somatic), and anxiety symptoms alongside core mood symptoms
Measured: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
BDI-II is a widely used self-report questionnaire designed to assess the severity of depressive symptoms in adults and adolescents.It consists of 21 items, each describing a specific depressive symptom (e.g., sadness, loss of interest, guilt, fatigue, sleep disturbances, appetite changes).
Measured: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
TIS-EEG: Mean Change From Baseline in Resting-State Posterior Alpha-Band Relative Power at Day 5
A 5-minute eyes-closed resting-state electroencephalography recording will be obtained before the first intervention and after the final intervention.
Measured: Day 1 before the first intervention and Day 5 within 30 minutes after completion of the final intervention
Mean Within-Session Change in Alpha-Band Relative Power During Transcranial Temporal Interference Stimulation on Day 5
Electroencephalography will be continuously recorded during the 20-minute transcranial temporal interference stimulation session. After removal of stimulation-related and physiological artifacts using a prespecified preprocessing procedure, alpha-band relative power will be calculated within the 8-13 Hz frequency range and averaged across all included electroencephalography electrodes. Relative alpha power will be calculated as alpha-band power divided by total power within the 1-45 Hz frequency range and multiplied by 100. The within-session change will be calculated as the mean relative alpha power during the final 5 minutes of stimulation minus the mean relative alpha power during the first 5 minutes of stimulation and reported in percentage points.
Measured: During the 20-minute transcranial temporal interference stimulation session on Day 5
Timeline
From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.
- First posted30 Jul 2026
- Study start1 Aug 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completion31 Dec 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion31 Jan 2028 (estimated)
Resources
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govThe registry entry this page is built from, with its full change history.
- Other trials for Neuropathic PainStudies of the same condition, open and under way.
- More trials run by Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, School of MedicineThe sponsor's other registered studies.
- What the trial phases meanHow a treatment moves from first tests in people to approval.
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 N/A
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind
- Who is masked
- Participant, Outcomes assessor
- Enrolment
- 60 participants (estimated)
Sponsor and investigators
- Sponsor type
- University, hospital or other
- Responsible party
- Sponsor
IDs, dates and publications
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07735975
- Sponsor's protocol ID
- 2025-1132
- Acronym
- TIS
- Status last verified
- Jan 2026
- First submitted
- 9 Feb 2026
- Last updated
- 30 Jul 2026
- Results posted
- No
- Data monitoring committee
- Yes
- FDA-regulated drug
- No
- FDA-regulated device
- No
Study at a glance
From the registry record, last updated by the sponsor on 30 Jul 2026. Recruitment status is as the sponsor reported it: confirm with the study team.
- Official title
- Effects and Mechanisms of Temporal Interference Stimulation (TIS) on Neuropathic Pain
- ClinicalTrials.gov ID
- NCT07735975
- Acronym / sponsor ID
- TIS / 2025-1132
- Conditions
- Neuropathic Pain, tTIS
- Study type
- Interventional
- Recruitment status
- Not yet recruiting
- Enrolment
- 60 participants (estimated)
- Lead sponsor
- Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, School of MedicineUniversity, hospital or other
- Study start
- 1 Aug 2026 (estimated)
- Primary completion
- 31 Dec 2027 (estimated)
- Study completion
- 31 Jan 2028 (estimated)
- First posted
- 30 Jul 2026 (actual)
- Results
- Not posted in the source record
Clinical summary
The research question as the sponsor registered it. This describes what the study plans to test, not what it found.
This study employs temporal interference stimulation (tTIS) to investigate the analgesic effects of tTIS on neuropathic pain and monitor changes in neural plasticity, and explore the dynamic relationship between analgesic efficacy and neural plasticity, thereby providing new strategies for the treatment of neuropathic pain.
Study design
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
- Allocation
- Randomised
- Intervention model
- Parallel groups
- Masking
- Double blind (participant, outcomes assessor)
- Number of arms
- 2
| Arm | Type | Receives |
|---|---|---|
| tTIS group | Experimental | Device: Transcranial temporal interference stimulationFollowing enrollment, patients underwent TIS treatment administered twice daily over five consecutive days, for a total of ten sessions. The stimulation was targeted at the periaqueductal gray (PAG) region contralateral to the side of pain. Assessments were conducted before treatment (T0) and immediately after the treatment course (T1), evaluating pain perception, emotional changes, and quality of life. Additionally, local and whole-brain mechanisms were examined using TIS-EEG and fMRI. |
| Sham group | Sham comparator | Device: Transcranial temporal interference stimulationThe sham group followed the same procedure as the TIS group. However, the electrical current was only delivered in a 30-second ramp-up at the beginning and a 30-second ramp-down at the end of each session to replicate the initial peripheral sensation without providing sustained therapeutic stimulation. |
Who may qualify
- Ages
- 18 years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Not accepted
- Age groups
- Adult, Older adult
Key inclusion criteria (6 listed)
- IASP diagnosis of peripheral neuropathic pain;
- At least one month after the onset of pain;
- At least moderate pain intensity (≥ 3 assessed by VAS or NRS);
- 18 years or older;
- Stable medical treatment from 2 weeks before allocation to the end of the trial;
Key exclusion criteria (6 listed)
- Contradictions to TIS treatment, such as metal implants or seizure;
- Serious psychiatric disorder (Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score ≥ 35 or Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale score ≥ 29);
- Aphasia or cognitive disorders (Mini mental state examination ≤ 24);
- Severe clinical disorders caused by tumor or other conditions;
- Severe cardiopulmonary dysfunction or extreme weakness;
Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening; this overview does not establish that a patient qualifies. Full inclusion and exclusion criteria.
Interventions
| Intervention | Type | Arms |
|---|---|---|
| Transcranial temporal interference stimulationAlso: tTIStTIS was applied to the PAG contralateral to the pain side for a duration of 20 minutes, comprising a 30-second ramp-up phase and a 30-second ramp-down phase. | Device | Sham group, tTIS group |
Primary outcome
visual analogue scale(VAS)
Time frame: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
It typically consists of a 10-centimeter straight line, with two endpoints representing extreme states of the measured experience. For example, when assessing pain, one end is labeled "0 (no pain at all)" and the other end "10 (worst pain imaginable, unbearable)".
7 secondary outcomes
short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ)
Time frame: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
Brief Pain Inventory (BPI)
Time frame: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
The Patient Global Impression of Change (PGIC)
Time frame: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
17-items of Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD)
Time frame: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
The Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II)
Time frame: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention
TIS-EEG: Mean Change From Baseline in Resting-State Posterior Alpha-Band Relative Power at Day 5
Time frame: Day 1 before the first intervention and Day 5 within 30 minutes after completion of the final intervention
Mean Within-Session Change in Alpha-Band Relative Power During Transcranial Temporal Interference Stimulation on Day 5
Time frame: During the 20-minute transcranial temporal interference stimulation session on Day 5
Results and safety
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
Research links
- Official record on ClinicalTrials.govLast updated by the sponsor 30 Jul 2026.
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Referral and contact
AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals. Contact the study team or a site listed below; they decide who can take part.
The record lists no contact. Use the official record to reach the sponsor.
Questions about this trial
What is this clinical trial studying?
A study testing Transcranial temporal interference stimulation in people with Neuropathic Pain and tTIS, run by Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, School of Medicine.
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 6 inclusion and 6 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: opening soon, as of the sponsor's last update on 30 Jul 2026. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.
What are the possible benefits and risks?
They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. Some participants in this study may receive a placebo. 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?
This study is still under way. Results are not available in the source record yet.
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?
visual analogue scale(VAS) (time frame: Day1(Baseline), day 5 after intervention). It is what the study was designed to measure, not a finding.
Where can I read the original study information?
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 30 Jul 2026.