Effect of Anti-craving Medication on Cognitive Functions in Alcohol Dependence: an ERP Study

January 31, 2018 updated by: Salvatore Campanella, Brugmann University Hospital

The main aim of this research is to investigate whether the use of cognitive event-related potentials is an interesting way to identify subgroups of alcoholic patients displaying specific clinical symptoms and cognitive disturbances in order to help clinicians to adapt the pharmaceutical approach to the specific needs of the patient.

Nowadays, a fundamental question remains: How can investigators identify among alcoholic patients who are likely to benefit from the use of naltrexone, acamprosate or baclofen, and those who are not? The goal of this application is to identify subgroups of alcoholic patients displaying specific clinical symptoms and cognitive disturbances linked to consistent biological markers. Investigators propose that this might help clinicians improve their treatment of alcoholic patients by focusing therapy on individual cognitive disturbances, and by adapting pharmaceutical approaches to the identified brain pathophysiology. In other words, investigators suggest that specifying the cognitive profile of each individual patient may help clinicians in their choice of a suitable drug program.

To reach this aim, investigators suggest that a joined investigation of early (P100) and late (P300) brain event-related potentials (ERP) components may help create subgroups of alcoholic patients with homogenous cognitive deficits, and that this ''classification'' might help optimize drug treatment. More precisely, investigators suggest that relapse in chronic alcoholism is partly due to (1) the preferential attentional allocation to alcohol-related information (e.g. the sight of a bottle of wine). As the P100 component has already been shown to be enhanced by motivationally relevant stimuli, investigators think that this component is well-suited for this purpose; and (2) the impairment of the inhibitory control, which is necessary to suppress an inappropriate prepotent response. The Go/No-Go task is a simple procedure, which has already proven to be highly reliable to evidence a deficit in inhibitory control processing in alcoholics, indexed by a No-Go P3 of decreased amplitude and less anterior topography. In summary, investigators have two simple experimental procedures, an oddball task and a Go/No-Go task, which can be easily carried out in clinical settings, and which can provide interesting data concerning, respectively, the existence of an implicit attentional bias towards alcohol-cues and the deficit of inhibitory control towards a prepotent response, through the observation of well-known and well-described cognitive ERP components, i.e. the P100 and P3b components. The main goal of this project will be to test the effect of different drug medications on both attentional (P100) and inhibitory (P300) deficits observable in alcoholic patients.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Actual)

80

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

      • Brussels, Belgium, 1020
        • CHU Brugmann

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

Sampling Method

Probability Sample

Study Population

Patients (age-range 18-65 years) undergoing a three-weeks detoxification cure in Alcohol Unit of CHU Brugmann, diagnosed with alcohol dependence, according to the DSM-IV-TR (diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th revision)

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • anti-craving medication free at arrival may be included in the study;
  • stable doses of antidepressants for two months prior to screening will be permitted

Exclusion Criteria:

  • participants with a history of neurological disorders, or other serious medical conditions (severe heart, lung, kidney or liver disease), assessed during the intake interview, will be excluded, as well as pregnant women; liver tests (aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) resulting higher than 5 times the usual values are considered as an exclusion factor due to risk linked to naltrexone consumption;
  • patients with current addiction to drugs other than nicotine (assessed through urine screening) will be excluded; individuals with positive cannabis screens will be excluded only if they had a history of cannabis dependence

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

  • Observational Models: Cohort
  • Time Perspectives: Prospective

Cohorts and Interventions

Group / Cohort
Naltrexone
50mg/day
Acamprosate
1332mg/day if patient weights less than 60 kg, 1998mg/day if patient weights more than 60 kg
Baclofen
30 mg/day
Placebo

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
P100 and P300 Event-related potentials (ERPs)
Time Frame: up to 20 days
Amplitude and latency values of P100 and P300 ERPs between T0 and T1 for each groups of 20 patients to investigate influence of medication (placebo vs. acamprosate vs. naltrexone vs. baclofen).
up to 20 days

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Salvatore Campanella, CHU Brugmann

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)

December 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 29, 2018

Study Completion (Actual)

January 29, 2018

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 10, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 7, 2014

First Posted (Estimate)

April 8, 2014

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

February 1, 2018

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 31, 2018

Last Verified

January 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

No

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.

Clinical Trials on Alcohol Dependence

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