Efficacy Study of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Treat Major Depressive Disorder (SELECT-TDCS)

December 2, 2011 updated by: Andre Brunoni, University of Sao Paulo

A Factorial, Double-blinded, Randomized Clinical Trial on Major Depressive Disorder Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

The purpose of this study is to determine whether transcranial direct current stimulation is an effective treatment for major depression, when compared (and combined) to sertraline and placebo.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common mental disorder, with a lifetime prevalence of 15% and an incidence of 5% per year. Its core symptoms include lack of pleasure in daily activities, thoughts of guilt and depressed mood. According to the World Health Organization, MDD is one of the ten most impairing conditions, leading to missing workdays, loss of quality of life and increasing expenses in health care. Besides, about 1% of patients with MDD complete suicide. Moreover, one third of patients with MDD remain depressed after more than two adequate treatments, i.e., they are refractory to conventional antidepressant treatments; also, most treated patients remain with residual symptoms. Therefore, the development of new treatments is necessary. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a novel, promising technique in the study of several neuropsychiatric conditions.

Transcranial DCS is a non-invasive brain stimulation method in which a low intensity direct current is applied through the skull, with neurophysiologic studies showing that a considerable amount of electrical current reach the brain tissues, vis-à-vis the specified parameters. Thus, the DC could be applied over brain MDD-related areas, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, thereby leading to neuroplasticity and MDD treatment. Indeed, some pilot studies showed that tDCS might ameliorate depressive symptoms. However, it is necessary to replicate these findings in larger populations to increase the generalizability of the results and to verify the efficacy of the intervention. Our aim is to perform a double blind, randomized, factorial study comparing tDCS and sertraline for MDD treatment, enrolling 120 eligible patients of both genders between 21-65 years not presenting active suicidal ideation. They will be allocated in 4 groups at random to receive active tDCS or sham and sertraline 50mg/day or placebo. Transcranial DCS will be applied in a daily basis for 10 consecutive working days (2 weeks), after that, the patients will be followed weekly for 6 weeks. Our primary outcome is the depression rating scores at 6 weeks, measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), 17-itens. In conclusion, our purpose is to perform a clinical tDCS study to verify its efficacy in the treatment of MDD in a sample of patients of several levels of severity and refractoriness.

Our secondary objectives are also to verify the safety of the intervention as well as to compare tDCMajor Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common mental disorder, with a lifetime prevalence of 15% and an incidence of 5% per year. Its core symptoms include lack of pleasure in daily activities, thoughts of guilt and depressed mood. According to the World Health Organization, MDD is one of the ten most impairing conditions, leading to missing workdays, loss of quality of life and increasing expenses in health care. Besides, about 1% of patients with MDD complete suicide. Moreover, one third of patients with MDD remain depressed after more than two adequate treatments, i.e., they are refractory to conventional antidepressant treatments; also, most treated patients remain with residual symptoms. Therefore, the development of new treatments is necessary. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a novel, promising technique in the study of several neuropsychiatric conditions.

Transcranial DCS is a non-invasive brain stimulation method in which a low intensity direct current is applied through the skull, with neurophysiologic studies showing that a considerable amount of electrical current reach the brain tissues, vis-à-vis the specified parameters. Thus, the DC could be applied over brain MDD-related areas, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, thereby leading to neuroplasticity and MDD treatment. Indeed, some pilot studies showed that tDCS might ameliorate depressive symptoms. However, it is necessary to replicate these findings in larger populations to increase the generalizability of the results and to verify the efficacy of the intervention. Our aim is to perform a double blind, randomized, factorial study comparing tDCS and sertraline for MDD treatment, enrolling 120 eligible patients of both genders between 21-65 years not presenting active suicidal ideation. They will be allocated in 4 groups at random to receive active tDCS or sham and sertraline 50mg/day or placebo. Transcranial DCS will be applied in a daily basis for 10 consecutive working days (2 weeks), after that, the patients will be followed weekly for 6 weeks. Our primary outcome is the depression rating scores at 6 weeks, measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), 17-itens. In conclusion, our purpose is to perform a clinical tDCS study to verify its efficacy in the treatment of MDD in a sample of patients of several levels of severity and refractoriness.

Our secondary objectives are also to verify the safety of the intervention as well as to compare tDCS vs. sertraline and the association of sertraline and tDCS vs. each treatment alone in major depression treatment.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

120

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • 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

  • Brazil
    • SP
      • Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil, 01403-020
        • University of Sao Paulo

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 to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Depressive Disorder, Major (SCID)
  • HDRS > 18

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Other axis I disorders, including Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Substance Abuse Disorders.
  • Any axis II disorders.
  • Any serious/life-threatening axis III disorders, such as Congestive Heart Failure, Pulmonary Obstructive Chronic Disease, Active Neoplasia.
  • Neurological diseases such as Stroke (and Post-Stroke Depression), Dementias and others.

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: Factorial Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Sham stimulation / sertraline
In this arm, patients will receive sham stimulation and sertraline 50mg/day. In sham stimulation, the tDCS device is set in the same fashion as the active stimulation, but the device is turned off after one minute of stimulation.
Drug: Sertraline
Patient will receive sertraline 50mg/day.
Sham Comparator: Sham stimulation / placebo pill

Placebo pills are sugar pills having the same size and shape of the active pills.

In sham stimulation, the tDCS device is set in the same fashion as the active stimulation, but the device is turned off after one minute of stimulation.
Other: double placebo
double placebo arm (sham stimulation/placebo pill)
Experimental: Active stimulation / Sertraline

In active stimulation, the anode is placed over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the cathode is placed over the right prefrontal cortex. They are located five centimeters ventrally of the primary motor area, which are located five centimeters laterally of the central point of the scalp (which is located on the intersection of the sagittal and median curves). The device will deliver a charge of 2mA for 30 minutes.

Patients will receive Sertraline 50mg/day.
Drug: Sertraline
Patient will receive sertraline 50mg/day.
Device: transcranial direct current stimulation
Transcranial direct current stimulation will be applied at 2mA, 30 minutes/day, for 10 weekdays consecutively and two extra stimulations at week 4 and 6.
Experimental: Active stimulation / placebo pill

In active stimulation, the anode is placed over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the cathode is placed over the right prefrontal cortex. They are located five centimeters ventrally of the primary motor area, which are located five centimeters laterally of the central point of the scalp (which is located on the intersection of the sagittal and median curves). The device will deliver a charge of 2mA for 30 minutes.

Placebo pills are sugar pills having the same size and shape of the active pill
Device: transcranial direct current stimulation
Transcranial direct current stimulation will be applied at 2mA, 30 minutes/day, for 10 weekdays consecutively and two extra stimulations at week 4 and 6.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
MADRS score
Time Frame: repeated-measures
repeated-measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
HDRS-17 score at week 6.
Time Frame: week 6
week 6
Remission rate (MADRS<=10)
Time Frame: week 6
week 6
MADRS score
Time Frame: week 2
week 2

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Sao Paulo

Collaborators

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Andre R Brunoni, MD, University of Sao Paulo

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

Helpful Links

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, 2009

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 15, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 15, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

December 16, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 6, 2011

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 2, 2011

Last Verified

December 1, 2011

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • USP-HU-001
  • FAPESP2009/05728-7 (Other Grant/Funding Number: FAPESP 2009/05728-7)

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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