EFFECT OF ANODAL TRANSCRANIAL DIRECT CURRENT STIMULATION (tDCS) OF PRIMARY MOTOR CORTEX ON HEADACHE FREQUENCY IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC MIGRAINE

July 29, 2026 updated by: Dr Ashish Kumar Duggal, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital

Migraine is a common, heterogeneous neurological disorder affecting approximately 10-15% of the global population and is the third most prevalent disease worldwide. A wide range of pharmacological agents is available for migraine prophylaxis, with treatment selection generally guided by the patient's clinical profile, associated comorbidities, and individual tolerability. However, the effectiveness of preventive medications is often limited by adverse effects, leading to poor treatment adherence and discontinuation. Consequently, non-pharmacological interventions, particularly neuromodulation techniques, have gained increasing attention as potential therapeutic options for chronic migraine.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive neuromodulation technique that has demonstrated efficacy in modulating refractory pain in patients with chronic migraine, fibromyalgia, spinal cord injury, and trigeminal neuralgia. In addition, it has shown therapeutic benefits in several neurological and psychiatric disorders, including depression, stroke, epilepsy, and Parkinson's disease. The present study aims to evaluate the efficacy of anodal tDCS applied over the primary motor cortex as an adjunctive therapy for reducing headache frequency in patients with chronic migraine.

A total of 32 participants with chronic migraine will be enrolled and randomized using block randomization with a block size of four, stratified according to the presence or absence of medication-overuse headache (MOH), through an online randomization generator. Participants will be allocated to receive either active or sham tDCS. Before randomization, all eligible patients will maintain a baseline headache diary for four weeks while continuing their existing prophylactic medications. Thereafter, they will undergo three 20-minute stimulation sessions administered during weeks 1, 5, and 9. Treatment outcomes will be evaluated at weeks 5, 9, and 12 using headache diary records and predefined objective assessment tools.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Not yet recruiting

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.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

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.
Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

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.
32

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Phase 3

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

  • India
      • New Delhi, India, 110001
        • Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Medical Sciences and Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital
        • Contact:
        • Contact:

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

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients aged 18-60 years diagnosed with chronic migraine as per ICHD-3.
  2. Patients who were on a minimum of one concomitant preventive medication for not less than three months duration and a dose that was stable for at least one month prior to randomization.
  3. Willingness to provide informed consent and maintain a headache diary.

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Patients with neurologic diseases such as tumours, seizures, dementia, meningitis, stroke, etc.
  2. Patients with barbiturate/opioid overuse or complications due to NSAID overuse.
  3. Patients failing to complete headache diary for more than 6 non-consecutive days during baseline.
  4. Illiterate patients without a caregiver to maintain the diary.
  5. Patients with pacemakers, cochlear implants.
  6. Pregnant women.

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

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Anodal TDCS Arm (will receive true tDCS)
Will receive true Anodal tDCS
Device: Transcranial Direct Current stimulation
Patients in group A will receive true anodal stimulation
Device: Transcranial Direct Current stimulation
Patients in group B will receive Sham stimulation
Sham Comparator: Sham tDCS Arm (will receive sham stimulation)
Will receive sham tDCS stimulation
Device: Transcranial Direct Current stimulation
Patients in group A will receive true anodal stimulation
Device: Transcranial Direct Current stimulation
Patients in group B will receive Sham stimulation

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
Change in frequency of moderate-severe headache days (week 12 vs baseline).
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Change in the number of monthly moderate-to-severe headache days from baseline to Week 12, as recorded in the participant headache diary.
12 weeks

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
Change in migraine days (week 12 vs baseline).
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Change in the frequency of monthly migraine days from baseline to Week 12, as recorded in the participant headache diary.
12 weeks
50% responder rate
Time Frame: 12 weeks
The number of patients having a 50% reduction in migraine days per month in both groups was calculated at week 12
12 weeks
Change in headache severity (week 12 vs baseline).
Time Frame: 12 weeks
The change in headache severity will be assessed at week 12 from baseline in terms of visual analogue score (0-3)
12 weeks
Change in number of days with acute medication use (week 12 vs baseline)
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Change in the number of days requiring acute migraine medication use per month from baseline to Week 12, as recorded in the participant headache diary.
12 weeks
Change in PHQ-9 scores (week 12 vs baseline)
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Change in Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) scores from baseline to Week 12
12 weeks
Change in MIDAS score (week 12 vs baseline)
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Change in Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) scores from baseline to Week 12, assessing changes in migraine-related disability.
12 weeks
Change in HIT - 6 scores (week 12 vs baseline)
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Change in Headache Impact Test-6 (HIT-6) scores from baseline to Week 12, assessing the impact of headache on daily functioning and health-related quality of life.
12 weeks
Change in Migraine specific Quality of Life (week 12 vs baseline)
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Change in Migraine-Specific Quality of Life (MSQ) scores from baseline to Week 12, assessing changes in migraine-related quality of life.
12 weeks
Safety Outcome - Adverse events reported by the patients after each session of tDCS
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Incidence and severity of adverse events reported by participants following each transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) session, monitored throughout the study period.
12 weeks

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.
Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Ashish K Duggal, DM Neurology, ABVIMS and Dr RML Hospital, New Delhi

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 (Estimated)

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.
August 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

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.
January 31, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

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.
January 31, 2027

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).
July 29, 2026

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.
July 29, 2026

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.
August 4, 2026

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.
August 4, 2026

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.
July 29, 2026

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.
July 1, 2026

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.
  • IEC/ABVIMS/RMLH/394

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

IPD collected throughout the trial will be available from the Principle Investigator upon reasonable request.

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF

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.

Cookie Settings

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. For more details carefully read our Privacy and Cookies Policy. ...>>>You can change your preferences or withdraw your consent at any time by deleting the cookies from your website or computer as described in the policy. Please accept it and choose your preferences by ticking the corresponding boxes in the "Manage Settings" section below. Please carefully read our Terms of Service before you proceed with using any part of this website.
«Manage Settings