Cerebral Hemodynamics With rTMS in Alcohol Dependence

May 14, 2015 updated by: Dr. Biswa Ranjan Mishra, Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, India

Cerebral Hemodynamics With rTMS in Alcohol Dependence: A Randomized, Sham Controlled Study

The present study measures the cerebral hemodynamic indices of alcohol dependent patients and observe the relative changes in these parameters with rTMS application.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Detailed Description

Alcohol abuse is a worldwide problem causing serious physical, psychological, social and economic consequences. Chronic alcohol intake has been found to increased blood viscosity, erythrocyte deformability or dehydration resulting in alterations of cerebral blood flow measures. Transcranial Doppler (TCD) sonography is a non-invasive radiological tool used for assessing the hemodynamics of the basal cerebral arteries, which can thus indirectly reflect the relative changes in regional cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) and vascular wall resistance. It has been used to evaluate the relative cerebral blood flow velocity changes in various psychiatric disorders like depression, schizophrenia, panic disorder, and substance use disorders including alcohol and marijuana. TCD also gives a real time assessment of the abrupt or short and long lasting effects of any external mechanical manipulation or functional stimulation of the intracranial circulation.

The Mean flow velocity (MV) is the average of the edge frequency over a cardiac cycle; the edge frequency being the envelope of instantaneous peak velocities throughout the course of a cardiac cycle. Pulsatility index (PI) represents an estimate of downstream vascular resistance; low resistance vascular beds have higher diastolic flow velocities than high resistance vascular beds, hence they have low PI, and vice versa. Similarly, Resistance index (RI) is another presumptive measure of downstream vascular resistance.

TCD sonography studies in alcoholism have revealed reduced mean blood flow velocities in basal cerebral arteries in chronic alcohol dependence, [1] as well as in acute stage of intoxication, but an increase after resolution of withdrawal state. [12] However, ethanol in low concentration has been found to increase the systolic, diastolic and mean blood flow velocity in middle cerebral arteries (MCA), anterior cerebral arteries (ACA) and decrease the resistance indices by reducing the cerebrovascular resistance in healthy individuals. Studies have reported that alcohol related hepatic dysfunction results in increased blood viscosity and reduced velocity in the cerebral arteries, which can be a risk factor for ischemic brain diseases. So, normalization of hemodynamic parameters is important in the prevention of possible ischemic brain diseases due to alcohol dependence.

Studies evaluating cerebral hemodynamic response to rTMS application have been limited to healthy individuals, with high frequency rTMS application found to increase the cerebral blood flow velocities in both anterior and posterior basal cerebral arteries, and low frequency rTMS to temporarily decrease the blood flow velocity in ipsilateral MCA followed by an increase in the contralateral MCA. With this background, the present study was conducted to measure the cerebral hemodynamic indices of alcohol dependent patients and observe the relative changes in these parameters with rTMS application.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

75

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

    • Jharkhand
      • Ranchi, Jharkhand, India, 834006
        • Central Institute of Psychiatry

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 60 years (Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

Male

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Right handed, male patients, aged between 18-60 years, with diagnosis of alcohol dependence according to DSM-IV TR, after resolution of withdrawal symptoms i.e. having Clinical Institute of Withdrawal Assessment in Alcohol Withdrawal (CIWA-Ar) score of ≤10, were included in the study.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with comorbid psychiatric, major medical or neurological disorders or with a pacemaker or metal in any part of the body were excluded from the study.

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: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
No Intervention: Healthy control
No Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
Active Comparator: Active rTMS group
Active Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
The motor threshold for the left abductor pollicis brevis was determined using a figure-of-eight-shaped coil at 1 Hz frequency. Ten (over 2 weeks) rTMS sessions were administered over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with an air-cooled figure-of-eight coil, angled tangentially to the head. At right DLPFC, active high-frequency (10 Hz) stimulation was administered for 4.9 seconds per train, with inter-train interval of 30 seconds, and a total of 20 trains per session. Each patient received 1000 pulses per day. The sham group was administered rTMS with the same parameters, but using a figure-of-eight sham coil.
Sham Comparator: Sham rTMS group
Sham Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
The motor threshold for the left abductor pollicis brevis was determined using a figure-of-eight-shaped coil at 1 Hz frequency. Ten (over 2 weeks) rTMS sessions were administered over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with an air-cooled figure-of-eight coil, angled tangentially to the head. At right DLPFC, active high-frequency (10 Hz) stimulation was administered for 4.9 seconds per train, with inter-train interval of 30 seconds, and a total of 20 trains per session. Each patient received 1000 pulses per day. The sham group was administered rTMS with the same parameters, but using a figure-of-eight sham coil.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Mean velocity (MV) of middle cerebral artery (MCA) and anterior cerebral artery (ACA)
Time Frame: up to 5 minutes after last (10th) rTMS session
up to 5 minutes after last (10th) rTMS session

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Pulsatility index (PI) of middle cerebral artery (MCA) and anterior cerebral artery (ACA)
Time Frame: up to 5 minutes after last (10th) rTMS session
up to 5 minutes after last (10th) rTMS session
Resistance index (RI) of middle cerebral artery (MCA) and anterior cerebral artery (ACA)
Time Frame: up to 5 minutes after last (10th) rTMS session
up to 5 minutes after last (10th) rTMS session

Collaborators and Investigators

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

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, 2010

Primary Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2011

Study Completion (Actual)

May 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 13, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 14, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

May 15, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 15, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 14, 2015

Last Verified

May 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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