Enhanced Tactile (Touch) Spatial Acuity in Upper Limb Amputees

March 3, 2008 updated by: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Enhancement of Tactile Spatial Acuity in Upper Limb Amputees

This study will examine whether tactile (touch) abilities at the lip are more acute in people with upper limb amputation compared with healthy normal volunteers. People with an amputated upper limb have an expanded brain representation of the lip that may correlate with heightened tactile spatial acuity.

Normal volunteers will be recruited for this study. Candidates will be screened with physical and neurological examinations. (Amputee volunteers will be studied at the amputee clinic at the University of Tubingen, Germany.)

Participants will sit comfortably in a chair, wearing a blindfold, during the following experiments:

  • Plastic domes with grooves are placed on parts of the lower lip on either side for a few seconds. The volunteer is then asked to identify the direction of the grooves relative to the long axis of the lip.
  • The participant's arm is placed in a cast and the index finger is immobilized. The same test done on the lip is repeated on the distal part of the index finger.

Each part of the test lasts about 20 minutes, and the entire experiment takes about 2 hours.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

Upper limb amputation leads to expansion of the cortical representation of the lip into the adjacent deafferented hand representation. It is conceivable that this enlargement of the lip representation may translate into a behavioral gain. The purpose of this protocol is to test the hypothesis that upper limb amputation in humans results in higher tactile spatial acuity at the lip. This would represent the first demonstration of chronic deafferentation-induced behavioral gains within the somatosensory system.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment

60

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Maryland
      • Bethesda, Maryland, United States, 20892
        • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

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

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

INCLUSION CRITERIA:

Normal volunteers who are willing and able to stay relaxed and collaborative for a period of up to 2 hours.

Subjects with upper limb amputation more than one year before testing.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Neurological or psychiatric disease

Excessive callus at the palm of the fingers

Subjects, who are unable to perform or understand the task

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?

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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

December 1, 2001

Study Completion

March 1, 2004

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 17, 2001

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 17, 2001

First Posted (Estimate)

December 18, 2001

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 4, 2008

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 3, 2008

Last Verified

March 1, 2004

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 020067
  • 02-N-0067

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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