- ICH GCP
- US Clinical Trials Registry
- Clinical Trial NCT02769507
Transcranial Brain Stimulation and Its Underlying Neural Mechanisms as a Novel Treatment for Auditory Hallucinations
August 6, 2020 updated by: Marco Hirnstein, University of Bergen
The present study aims to investigate whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) reduces auditory hallucinations in patients with psychosis.
In addition, the neuronal changes of tDCS will be examined.
Study Overview
Status
Completed
Conditions
Intervention / Treatment
Detailed Description
The majority of patients with psychosis experience hallucinations, particularly auditory hallucinations are frequent.
The hallucinations often leads to massive distress and impairments in social functioning and sometimes even order patients to commit acts of violence against themselves or others.
The standard treatment for auditory hallucinations is antipsychotic medication.
However, side-effects can be severe and about 25-30% of the patients do not respond to the medication.
Transcranial direct current stimulation is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, which modulates cortical excitability in a pain-free free with mild transient adverse effects, if any.
Typically, cortical excitability underneath the anode is boosted while cathodal stimulation has inhibitory effects.
Previous studies found that 2 daily sessions of 20 min tDCS for five subsequent days may reduce auditory hallucinations.
Investigators want to further assess the efficacy of tDCS in sample that is large enough to detect medium to large effects.
In addition, investigators want to investigate the neural mechanisms that underlie the tDCS treatment by examining various neuroimaging parameters before, immediately after treatment, and 3 months after treatment.
Study Type
Interventional
Enrollment (Actual)
24
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
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Hordaland
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Bergen, Hordaland, Norway, 5009
- University of Bergen
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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:
- Diagnosed with schizophrenia spectrum disorder or other psychotic disorder
- Frequent auditory hallucinations (at least 5 times a week).
- Patients are on a stable dose of antipsychotic medication (which can also be zero) for at least 2 weeks.
- Mentally competent for informed consent.
- Provided informed consent.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Metal objects in or around the head that cannot be removed (i.e. cochlear implant, surgical clips, piercing)
- History of seizures, or a history of seizures in first-degree relatives.
- History of eye trauma with a metal object or professional metal workers
- History of brain surgery, brain infarction, head trauma, cerebrovascular accident, broken skull, brain tumour, heart disease, cardiac pacemaker.
- Skin disease on the scalp on the position of the tDCS electrodes
- Coercive treatment based on a judicial ruling
- Pregnancy in female patients
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: real tDCS
DC Stimulator PLUS (NeuroConn) The real tDCS condition comprises two daily sessions of 20 min tDCS, separated by a minimum break of 3h, for five consecutive days.
Anodal and cathodal tDCS will be applied with 2mA to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (a point midway between F3 and FP1) and the left peri-Sylvian region (a point midway between T3 and P3), respectively.
Electrode size is 7cm x 5cm.
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Sham Comparator: sham tDCS
DC Stimulator PLUS (NeuroConn) The sham condition is identical to the "real tDCS" condition except that after 40s of tDCS stimulation is going to be reduced to a small pulse every 550msec (110 μA over 15 msec) through the remainder of the 20 minute period.
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What is the study measuring?
Primary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Auditory Hallucination Rating Scale (AHRS)
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Measure for severity of hallucinations
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Questionnaire for Psychotic Experiences (QPE)
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
|
Measure for severity of hallucinations
|
Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
|
Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS)
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
|
Measure for positive and negative symptoms in psychotic disorders
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Hallucinations App
Time Frame: Continuously between baseline and 3 months after treatment
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iPhone/iPod application for self-ratings of auditory hallucinations
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Continuously between baseline and 3 months after treatment
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Hallucination Change Scale (HCS)
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Measure for changes in severity of auditory hallucinations
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Secondary Outcome Measures
Outcome Measure |
Measure Description |
Time Frame |
---|---|---|
Stroop task
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
|
Measure of executive functioning
|
Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Trailmaking test A and B
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Measure of visuomotor speed
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Expectations Questionnaire
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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prior expectations participants have regarding the outcome of the treatment on a scale from 0 ("The treatment will have no effect") to 10 ("The treatment will make the voices go away entirely.")
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Adverse Effects Questionnaire
Time Frame: The questionnaire is completed after each tDCS session. That is, twice on each day of the five day treatment program
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The presence and severity of side-effects will be monitored using the tDCS adverse effects questionnaire
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The questionnaire is completed after each tDCS session. That is, twice on each day of the five day treatment program
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The Clinical Global Impressions Scale - Severity
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Measure of global functioning
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Global Assessment of Functioning
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Measure of global functioning
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Shape, size, and integrity of gray and white matter structures in the brain
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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GABA and glutamate levels in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and peri-Sylvian regions
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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MR spectroscopy
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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BOLD (Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent signal) response during resting state
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Resting state functional MRI
|
Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Dichotic listening paradigm
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Measure of executive functioning
|
Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Dichotic listening paradigm
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Measure of language lateralization
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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BOLD response during dichotic listening paradigm
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Changes in brain activity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the peri-Sylvian language regions
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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White matter structure and connectivity
Time Frame: Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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MR Diffusion Tensor Imaging
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Change from Baseline to immediately after treatment and 3 months after treatment
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Collaborators and Investigators
This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.
Sponsor
Collaborators
Investigators
- Principal Investigator: Marco Hirnstein, PhD, University of Bergen
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
July 1, 2016
Primary Completion (Actual)
March 1, 2020
Study Completion (Actual)
March 1, 2020
Study Registration Dates
First Submitted
May 6, 2016
First Submitted That Met QC Criteria
May 9, 2016
First Posted (Estimate)
May 11, 2016
Study Record Updates
Last Update Posted (Actual)
August 7, 2020
Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria
August 6, 2020
Last Verified
August 1, 2020
More Information
Terms related to this study
Additional Relevant MeSH Terms
Other Study ID Numbers
- UiB-BFS-01/2016
Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)
Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?
YES
IPD Plan Description
Data will be shared with the ERC Advanced Projects Advanced Grant #249516 "VOICE" and #693124 "ONOFF".
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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