Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Cognitive Deficits in the Brain of Individuals With Spinal Cord Injury (SCI_Cog)

November 17, 2025 updated by: Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil

In the case of spinal cord injury, rehabilitation is particularly focused on motor skills. Non-motor impairments such as thinking difficulties did not receive a lot of attention to date.

In this research project, the investigators want to find out how thinking difficulties become noticeable in the brain with spinal cord injury.

Participation procedure: Participants who take part will be asked to come to an examination once. The duration of the examination is between 2 and 2.5 hours (including around 55 minutes in the magnetic resonance imaging scanner, including preparation and follow-up).

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
54

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Switzerland
    • Canton of Lucerne
      • Nottwil, Canton of Lucerne, Switzerland, 6207
        • Swiss Paraplegic Research

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Individuals with SCI and healthy controls will be recruited for the study considering age-matching.

Description

Inclusion criteria (with and without spinal cord injury):

  • Male or Female
  • Age between 18 and 60
  • German native speaker
  • Normal or corrected-to-normal visual acuity

Additional inclusion criteria (spinal cord injury only):

  • A diagnosis of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI)
  • Time since injury 12 months or longer
  • American Spinal Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) grade A, B, C and D

Exclusion criteria (with and without spinal cord injury):

  • Contraindication for magnetic resonance imaging examinations (e.g., cardiac pacemaker etc.)
  • Pregnancy
  • Diagnosis of other psychiatric or neurological disorders (including tumor in the central nervous system)
  • Alcohol and/or drug abuse
  • Confirmed diagnosis of traumatic brain injury
  • Insufficient hand function (not able to hold a pen due to the restricted motor abilities)

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort

Group / Cohort

A group or subgroup of participants in an observational study that is assessed for biomedical or health outcomes.
spinal cord injury
Individuals living with a spinal cord injury
non spinal cord injury
able-bodied individuals

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Brain activity
Time Frame: Baseline
Brain activity defined as changes in oxygen levels in the blood during the execution of cognitive tasks on cognitive inhibition and verbal fluency (executive functions), and at rest
Baseline

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Behavioral performance
Time Frame: Baseline
Accuracy on cognitive inhibition task (in percentage)
Baseline
Behavioral performance
Time Frame: Baseline
Reaction time (in milliseconds) on cognitive inhibition task
Baseline
Behavioral performance
Time Frame: Baseline
Number of errors on cognitive inhibition task
Baseline
Behavioral performance
Time Frame: Baseline
Number of correct words on verbal fluency task
Baseline
Behavioral performance
Time Frame: Baseline
Number of mistakes on verbal fluency task
Baseline
Brain morphometry
Time Frame: Baseline
Volume of brain structures in cubic millimetres
Baseline
Level of life satisfaction
Time Frame: Baseline
Satisfaction with Life Scale (validated questionnaire assessing life satisfaction)
Baseline
Level of anxiety
Time Frame: Baseline
State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (validated questionnaire assessing anxiety)
Baseline
Level of pain
Time Frame: Baseline
Validated questionnaire assessing pain severity
Baseline
Quality of sleep
Time Frame: Baseline
Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (validated questionnaire assessing sleep quality)
Baseline
Level of attention and awareness
Time Frame: Baseline
Mindful Attention and Awareness scale (validated questionnaire assessing level of attention and awareness)
Baseline
Motor symptom severity
Time Frame: Baseline
Motor symptoms severity (from level A to E) based on the International Standards for Neurological Classification of spinal cord injury (ISNCSCI)
Baseline
Demographics
Time Frame: Baseline
Demographic information such as age, sex and education level, as well as time since injury
Baseline

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Swiss Paraplegic Research, Nottwil

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
February 1, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
November 18, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
November 18, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
January 26, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
March 7, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
March 13, 2024

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
November 20, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
November 17, 2025

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
November 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 2023-18

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

The investigators plan to save anonymised data into public repositories, but given the size of imaging data, they are still undecided.

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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