Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of Relief of Fibromyalgia Pain (TMSFFI)

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation of the Precentral-gyrus in the Relief of Fibromyalgia Pain: an International Multicenter Controlled Adaptative Trial

There are currently several points concerning rTMS for pain relief that have a huge impact in the practical application of rTMS in clinical practice, but which have not been approached by previous studies. Also, an even more important issue is the frequency of the sessions in each treatment protocol. The idea of performing stimulation in chronic pain patients on a consecutive daily basis for long-term treatments seem unrealistic and potentially costly. However, it has been reported in animals, healthy subjects and FM patients that the analgesic effects of rTMS can outlast the stimulation session for several minutes and even days. This has led to the proposal that pain treatment with rTMS could be performed in consecutive daily induction sessions, followed by spaced (weekly, fortnightly and even monthly) maintenance sessions. This approach is similar to what is performed routinely in patients with major depression treated by rTMS to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and has successfully been tested in FM patients in a single- center study. Should this approach prove effective in larger prospective multicentric studies, rTMS could enter the armamentarium of non-invasive, non- pharmacological, low-adverse event therapeutic options to relieve fibromyalgia- related pain and associate symptoms. Hence, our aim is to conduct a multicentric international clinical trial on the influence of rTMS in the control of pain in a consecutive adaptive trial design where conventional rTMS (10Hz) and patterned rTMS (theta-burst) will be studied. Stimulations will be performed in a clinical practice-friendly approach, where daily maintenance sessions will be followed by weekly, and fortnightly stimulation sessions. There have been very scarce adaptive trials in the pain and non-invasive stimulation fields. This methodological approach allows for the use of lower number of patients in consecutive trials and, among other qualities, it allows for the imputation of data from the first trial into the second one, thus decreasing the duration of the studies and the number of participants.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Fibromyalgia
• Intervention / Treatment: Procedure: Conventional rTMS - study 1; Procedure: Sham rTMS - study 1; Procedure: Conventional rTMS - study 2; Procedure: Patterned rTMS - stage 2

Detailed Description

There are currently several points concerning rTMS for pain relief that have a huge impact in the practical application of rTMS in clinical practice, but which have not been approached by previous studies. One of them refers to dosing of the treatment. rTMS sessions have been proposed to comprise from 1000 to 3000 pulses of stimulation in each session, which means that treatment sessions may last from 7 to 20 minutes. While there are positive studies reporting different numbers of pulses, the actual stimulation protocol chosen may impact not only the efficacy of the treatment, but also the duration of the stimulation session, the time patients stay at the health-care facility, and, thus, cost and compliance to treatment. Also, an even more important issue is the frequency of the sessions in each treatment protocol. The idea of performing stimulation in chronic pain patients on a consecutive daily basis for long-term treatments seem unrealistic and potentially costly. However, it has been reported in animals, healthy subjects and FM patients that the analgesic effects of rTMS can outlast the stimulation session for several minutes and even days. This has led to the proposal that pain treatment with rTMS could be performed in consecutive daily induction sessions, followed by spaced (weekly, fortnightly and even monthly) maintenance sessions. This approach is similar to what is performed routinely in patients with major depression treated by rTMS to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and has successfully been tested in FM patients in a single- center study. Should this approach prove effective in larger prospective multicentric studies, rTMS could enter the armamentarium of non-invasive, non- pharmacological, low-adverse event therapeutic options to relieve fibromyalgia- related pain and associate symptoms. Hence, our aim is to conduct a multicentric international clinical trial on the influence of rTMS in the control of pain in a consecutive adaptive trial design where conventional rTMS and patterned rTMS will be studied. Stimulations will be performed in a clinical practice-friendly approach, where daily maintenance sessions will be followed by weekly, and fortnightly stimulation sessions. There have been very scarce adaptive trials in the pain and non-invasive stimulation fields. This methodological approach allows for the use of lower number of patients in consecutive trials and, among other qualities, it allows for the imputation of data from the first trial into the second one, thus decreasing the duration of the studies and the number of participants. Similarly, this technical approach allows for pre-planned interim analyses to be performed during data collection, allowing for the sample size to be readjusted during the trial, and, more importantly, allowing for trial termination due to futility or due to achievement of the primary endpoint before the end of the original preplanned data collection period, with lower risk of bias. Here, the adaptive approach will allow one not only to compare conventional rTMS (10Hz) to sham stimulation, but also, on second consecutive study, it will provide the first head-to-head study on rTMS to date comparing the analgesic effects of conventional (10Hz) and patterned (theta-burst) rTMS .

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 80
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• Brazil
  • São Bernardo Do Campo, Brazil, 09606-070
    • Federal University of ABC
  • São Paulo, Brazil, 05403-010
    • Ambulatório de Fisioterapia do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo
  • Pernambuco
    • Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, 50670-901
      • Universidade Federal de Pernambuco
  • SP
    • São Paulo, SP, Brazil, 05403900
      • Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina da Universidade de São Paulo (HC/FMUSP)
• France
  • Paris, France, 92100
    • Centre d'Evaluation et de Traitement de la Douleur Hôpital Ambroise Paré
• Japan
  • Osaka, Japan, 565-0871
    • Department of Neuromodulation Osaka University

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 18 years to 80 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Female patients with diagnosis fibromyalgia according to the ACR 2016 criteria (patient satisfies modified 2016 fibromyalgia criteria if the following 3 conditions are met: 1) widespread pain index (WPI) ≥ 7 and symptom severity scale (SSS) score 5 OR WPI of 4-6 and SSS score ≥ 9. 2) Generalized pain, defined as pain in at least 4 of 5 regions, must be present. Jaw, chest, and abdominal pain are not included in generalized pain definition. 3) Symptoms have been generally present for at least 3 months. 4) A diagnosis of fibromyalgia is valid irrespective of other diagnoses. A diagnosis of fibromyalgia does not exclude the presence of other clinically important illnesses).
2. Age ≥18 years;
3. Be able to understand study protocol and give signed, written informed consent
4. Not under opioids
5. VAS score ≥ 40/100 mm;

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Known abuse of alcohol or illicit drugs
2. Known psychiatric conditions
3. Contraindications to rTMS (42) (Head trauma or concussion, metal implants in the skull, pregnancy, cardiac pacemaker, medication infusion devices, previous troubles with TMS or MRI);
4. Not being under chronic contraceptive use (intrauterine dispositive or oral contraceptive)
5. Other medical conditions demand hospitalization;
6. Participation in other clinical studies at the same time

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Sequential Assignment
• Masking: Double

Number of Arms

4

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Conventional rTMS - study 1; In study 1 patients were randomly allocated to receive conventional repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (10Hz).	Procedure: Conventional rTMS - study 1; Patients will be undergoing to 10Hz transcranial magnetic stimulation session
Experimental: Sham rTMS - study 1; In study 1 patients were randomly allocated to receive sham repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation.	Procedure: Sham rTMS - study 1; Patients will be undergoing to sham transcranial magnetic stimulation session
Experimental: Conventional rTMS - study 2; In study 2, after the end of the first trial will be allocated to receive conventional of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (10Hz).	Procedure: Conventional rTMS - study 2; Patients will be undergoing to 10Hz transcranial magnetic stimulation session
Experimental: Patterned rTMS - study 2; In study 2, after the end of the first trial will be allocated to receive patterned of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (Theta-burst).	Procedure: Patterned rTMS - stage 2; Patients will be undergoing to theta-burst transcranial magnetic stimulation session

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Analgesic effects of motor cortex stimulation	Percentage of responders based on the reduction of ≥50% in pain intensity (numerical rating scale 0-10) at the end of the study compared to baseline.	8th week of treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Global impression of change	Assess % of very much and much improved	8th week of treatment
Pain intensity	Measured by VAS (0 no pain -10 worst pain)	At the end of the induction period (10th day) and 12th week
Mood	Assess mood by hospital anxiety and depression scale	baseline and 12th week
Medication use	Measured by Brief Pain Inventory	baseline and 12th week
Interference in daily activites	Measured by brief pain inventory	baseline and 12th week
Impact of fibromyalgia daily	Assess by fibromyalgia impact questionnaire	baseline and 12th week
Phenotypical markers of analgesic response	Assessment of phenotypical markers of analgesic response	baseline and 12th week
Adverse events	Assess of adverse events by standardized questionnaire'	baseline and 12th week

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: University of Sao Paulo
• Collaborators: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: Daniel Ciampi de Andrade, MD, PhD, Pain Center, Department of Neurology, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): April 1, 2019
• Primary Completion (Actual): March 1, 2023
• Study Completion (Actual): March 1, 2023

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: September 3, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: September 3, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): September 5, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): October 12, 2023
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 11, 2023
• Last Verified: October 1, 2023

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Keywords: fibromyalgia; repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation
• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nervous System Diseases; Musculoskeletal Diseases; Rheumatic Diseases; Muscular Diseases; Neuromuscular Diseases; Fibromyalgia; Myofascial Pain Syndromes
• Other Study ID Numbers: RGDCA03

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No