Pulsed Electro Magnetic Fields (PEMF) Treatment in Patients With Treatment-Resistant Major Depression in Ongoing Pharmacological Treatment of Depression

May 28, 2009 updated by: Hillerod Hospital, Denmark
About 30% of patients with major depression are treatment resistant to pharmacological treatment. In the search for new methods to treat depression a great interest has been put into the use of electromagnetic fields. This study tests the hypothesis that ultra-weak electromagnetic fields with a specific wave pattern (PEMF = pulsed electro magnetic fields) can alleviate the symptoms of depression.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

In this study, a patient with treatment resistant depression, as defined by Harold Sackeim, is subjected to 5 weeks of treatment with active or sham PEMF treatment for 30 minutes on every working day. The pharmacological treatment for depression is maintained unaltered throughout the study. Depression severity is measured at the beginning of the study and at each weekly visit. Side effects are closely observed. The ability to concentrate is measured by the AQT test (Alzheimers Quick Test). Personality is assessed by use of the SCID-II-instrument (DSM-IV axis II).

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

50

Phase

  • 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 Locations

  • Denmark
      • Municipality of Frederiksberg, Denmark, 2000
        • Speciallægerne Falkoner Allé

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

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Major depression
  • Treatment resistance
  • Age above 18 years
  • Hamilton 17 item score above 13
  • Unaltered pharmacological treatment in last 4 weeks

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychotic disorder
  • Mental retardation
  • Suicidality
  • Earlier treatment with PEMF
  • Abuse of alcohol or other substances
  • Patient not able to come to appointed visits
  • Antisocial, borderline or schizotypic personality disorder
  • Women lactating or pregnant
  • Unreliable contraception

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: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: 1
Active Pulsating Electro Magnetic Fields (PEMF) treatment
Device: Pulsating Electro-Magnetic Fields
5 days a week for 5 weeks 30 minutes
Sham Comparator: 2
5 days a week for 5 weeks for 30 minutes Sham PEMF
Device: Pulsating Electro-Magnetic Fields sham
sham PEMF

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score (depression)
Time Frame: 1 week
1 week

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
AQT, measure of concentration
Time Frame: weekly
weekly

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Hillerod Hospital, Denmark

Collaborators

The Lundbeckfoundation
Biofields

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Klaus Martiny, MD, Ph.D., Psychiatric Research Unit Fredericksburg General Hospital

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

March 1, 2006

Primary Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2009

Study Completion (Actual)

March 1, 2009

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 31, 2006

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 6, 2006

First Posted (Estimate)

February 7, 2006

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 29, 2009

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 28, 2009

Last Verified

May 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Final version 26 Oktober 2005

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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