Spinal Cord Stimulation for the Treatment of Motor and Nonmotor Symptoms of Parkinson's Disease (SCSPD)

March 12, 2015 updated by: Erich Talamoni Fonoff, University of Sao Paulo

Although DBS improves patient's quality of life advanced Parkinson's patients (PD) by addressing the cardinal symptoms and reducing levodopa motor complications, symptoms still worsen over time. Postural problems, frequent falls, freezing of gait impairment and other locomotion difficulties still remain as important causes of disability and incapacity. Novel therapeutics approaches are needed to restore quality of life (QoL).

This study aims to explore the effects of spinal cord stimulation in locomotion, falls and freezing of gait in advanced PD patients.

Twenty PD patients will undergo thoracic spinal cord stimulation at high frequencies in a prospective study for six months.

Changes in locomotion capacity and freezing of gait rating will be the primary out come. Secondary outcomes will be: QoL and common motor outcome measures in PD patients. Always comparing the status before, one, three and six months after stimulation was initiated. A double blind trial will be performed within three months of follow up (high X low frequency stimulation).

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Detailed Description

Background: Currently there are no available Parkinson's disease (PD) therapy can really stop disease progression. Although Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) improves patient's quality of life by addressing the cardinal symptoms and reducing Levodopa motor complications, non motor symptoms still increasing over time. Gait problems as falls and freezing are important cause of disability and incapacity. Novel therapeutics approaches are needed to restore quality of life. Data from animal PD model suggest that spinal cord stimulation (SCS) can enhance locomotion in mice. Although clinical results, mostly from case reports, in PD patients are still conflicting, a few patients benefited from SCS in thoracic levels.

Aim: Evaluated Spinal cord stimulation effects in locomotion, gait, freezing and falls in PD patient's.

Method: 20 PD patients will undergo thoracic spinal cord stimulation with high frequency in a prospective study for six months. Gait and freezing evaluation will consists in: timed up and go test, timed up and go test with dual task, 20 m walk test, 20 m walk test with obstacle, freezing of gait scale and falls scale. PDQ 39 and Schwab and England scales will be used to measure quality of life. Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale for motor symptoms and general evaluation. All tests will be done before surgery, after one week, one, three, six months. All patients will be stimulated with the same parameters: High frequencies and 90 mcs pulse width and the sensory threshold will be measured. At the third month the parameters of SCS will be changed and comparative tested for low frequency in a double blind trail.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

20

Phase

  • Not Applicable

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

      • São Paulo, Brazil, 01060-970
        • Recruiting
        • Division of Functional Neurosurgery
        • Contact:
          • Erich T Fonoff, MD/PhD/Prof
          • Phone Number: 5511983238848
          • Email: fonoffet@usp.br
        • 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

Ages Eligible for Study

45 years to 70 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Idiopathic PD
  2. Gait and locomotion problems as the main complain/symptom
  3. PD patients with or without DBS
  4. Hoehn and Yahr scale equal or more than 2.0

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Dementia
  2. Hoehn and Yahr scale more than 4
  3. Less than 5 years of Parkinson's disease symptoms
  4. General contraindications of surgery

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: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Parkinson's disease patients
Group description: PD patients with locomotion problems as the primary complain with no interventions other than medication and rehabilitation therapies Intervention: Implantable spinal cord stimulation.
Implantation of SCS electrode and pulse generator
Other Names:
  • Implantable SCS electrode and IPG (Medtronic)
Experimental: DBS Parkinson's disease patients

Group description: PD patients with locomotion problems as the primary complain after cardinal symptoms are controlled by DBS.

Intervention: Implantable spinal cord stimulation.

Implantation of SCS electrode and pulse generator
Other Names:
  • Implantable SCS electrode and IPG (Medtronic)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in locomotion capacity
Time Frame: 6 months
"Timed-up-go" test : time to complete the test : difference between scores pre-implantation and 6 months after stimulation initiation "20 meters walking test": time and steps numbers to complete the test "20 meters walking test- with obstacles": time and steps numbers to complete the test : difference between scores pre-implantation and 6 months after stimulation initiation "Dual task Timed-up-go" test : time to complete the test : difference between scores pre-implantation and 6 months after stimulation initiation "Dual task Timed-up-go" test : time to complete the test : difference between scores pre-implantation and 6 months after stimulation initiation
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Changes in freezing of Gait
Time Frame: 6 months
FOG (freezing of gait scale): difference between scores pre-implantation and 6 months after stimulation initiation
6 months
Changes in quality of life
Time Frame: 6 months
Parkinson Disease Questionnaire 39: difference between scores pre-implantation and 6 months after stimulation initiation
6 months
Motor changes
Time Frame: 6 months
Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale motor score: difference between scores pre-implantation and 6 months after stimulation initiation
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Erich T Fonoff, MD/PhD/Prof, University of São Paulo, Department of Neurology

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

June 1, 2014

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

March 1, 2015

Study Completion (Anticipated)

December 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

March 8, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 8, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

March 13, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

March 17, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 12, 2015

Last Verified

March 1, 2015

More Information

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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