tDCS to Reduce Craving in Cocaine Addiction

February 5, 2019 updated by: Soterix Medical

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) to Reduce Craving in Cocaine Addiction

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of non-invasive brain stimulation in which low level electrical currents are applied to the scalp in order to alter brain function. In the present study, tDCS will be administered with the goal of assessing the tolerability and feasibility of this approach to 1) reduce an individual's level of drug craving and 2) provide evidence to support the use of this device by the patient for future unsupervised stimulation in a non-clinical setting.

Research Questions:

  • Can tDCS be used successfully to train cocaine addicted individuals for self-administration purposes?
  • Can active tDCS be used to decrease drug craving in individuals with cocaine use disorders?
  • Does active tDCS outperform sham tDCS in reducing drug craving?

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The ultimate goal of this project is to develop a portable neuromodulatory intervention to reduce craving in cocaine addiction. This proposed project is in response to NIH/NIDA's solicitation titled "Development of Portable Neuromodulatory Device for the Treatment of Substance Use Disorders (SUDs)." The present study aims to evaluate the tolerability and feasibility of repeated administration of tDCS to reduce drug craving in individuals with cocaine addiction, with the aim of using these data to support a phase II study and, ultimately, support of approval of usage of this device without clinical supervision.

The specific objectives are:

  1. Establish the feasibility and safety of using tDCS to reduce self-reported cravings in individuals addicted to cocaine.
  2. Train cocaine addicted individuals to self-administer tDCS (under supervision) to test the feasibility of future home self-administration in this population.

Substance use disorders present a treatment challenge for clinicians, as well as a socioeconomic burden on individuals and society at large. Cocaine use disorder occurs when someone experiences clinically significant impairment caused by the recurrent use of cocaine, including health problems, physical withdrawal with discontinuation of use, persistent/escalating use, and failure to meet major personal, occupational, or educational responsibilities. At present, no FDA approved medicines are available to treat cocaine dependence, and behavioral therapy may be used to treat this addiction, though with limited efficacy. Drug craving (strong obsessions about and/or irresistible urges or compulsions to consume a drug) is a central driving force for perpetuation of substance use and subsequent addiction, as well as relapse after abstinence. Currently, no treatments exist that are targeted at reducing drug craving, which is intrusive and distressing to patients. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays an important role inhibiting these intrusive cravings. However, decades of data have shown that PFC activity is impaired in addictions. In this study, our goal is to increase PFC activity with non-invasive neuromodulation. Given the role of the PFC in the processing and regulation of craving behavior, this brain region is a key target for brain stimulation.

This study will recruit individuals with a diagnosis of cocaine use disorder (per DSM-5 criteria) who are receiving treatment for their substance use disorder at Samaritan Daytop Village (SDV) and other similar treatment facilities (e.g., Phoenix House, Mount Sinai's network of hospitals and clinics). Patients will be randomly assigned to receive either active or sham (placebo) tDCS. Participants will receive 20 minutes of stimulation per tDCS day, three days per week for five weeks.

Interviews and neuropsychological testing will be conducted, and self-reported drug craving and addiction severity questionnaires will be used. Follow up cognitive and behavioral assessments will be conducted over a period of 12 months post tDCS stimulation. In addition, participants will be asked to perform EEG, cognitive tasks, and collection of a blood sample to assess genetic/epigenetic patterns.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

25

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

  • United States
    • New York
      • New York, New York, United States, 10029
        • Recruiting
        • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Rita Z Goldstein, PhD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Nelly Alia-Klein, PhD
        • Sub-Investigator:
          • Muhammad A Parvaz, PhD

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • DSM-5 diagnosis of cocaine use disorder
  • Ability to understand the risks/benefits of the study, provide informed consent and perform tasks as per protocol
  • English speaking
  • For females of childbearing capacity, current use of a medically acceptable form of birth control

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Current or past history of a major neurological disorder (e.g. mental retardation, Parkinson's disease, Lewy body disease, Huntington's disease, MS, ALS, stroke, delirium tremens) or seizures, including those symptoms associated with periods of cocaine withdrawal or abstinence
  • History of Axis I disorder, other than substance use disorder, that is associated with psychotic symptoms (e.g. schizophrenia) or neurodevelopmental disorder (e.g., autism)
  • Use of medications (current or in the past 6 months) with known CNS effects or which may alter cerebral function, except psychotropics for depression/anxiety/PTSD (e.g. SSRIs)
  • Clinically significant unstable medical illness or infection (e.g. HIV, hepatitis, etc.)
  • Presence of contraindicated metallic implants or devices which may be impacted by electrical stimulation (e.g. cardiac pacemaker/defibrillator, medication pump, cochlear implant, implanted brain stimulator)
  • Head trauma with loss of consciousness for more than 30 minutes
  • Pregnancy or breast feeding

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: DEVICE_FEASIBILITY
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: QUADRUPLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
EXPERIMENTAL: Active tDCS
Active Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), Soterix Medical mini-CT tDCS stimulator
Device: Soterix Medical mini-CT tDCS stimulator

Patients will have two electrodes applied (one anode, one cathode) administering active (real) or sham (placebo, not real) tDCS stimulation.

Stimulation will last 20 minutes per day, three days per week, for 5 weeks
SHAM_COMPARATOR: Sham tDCS
Sham (Placebo) Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), Soterix Medical mini-CT tDCS stimulator
Device: Soterix Medical mini-CT tDCS stimulator

Patients will have two electrodes applied (one anode, one cathode) administering active (real) or sham (placebo, not real) tDCS stimulation.

Stimulation will last 20 minutes per day, three days per week, for 5 weeks

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Cocaine Craving from Baseline (Obsessive-Compulsive Cocaine Scale score)
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-tDCS), post-tDCS sessions (approx. week 6), Follow-up (every three months for up to 1 year)
Craving for cocaine will be assessed with a brief scale composed of 5 items (1, 2, 4, 5, and 13) from the Obsessive-Compulsive Cocaine Scale (OCCS; Vorspan et al., 2012).
Baseline (pre-tDCS), post-tDCS sessions (approx. week 6), Follow-up (every three months for up to 1 year)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Depression symptoms from Baseline (Ham-D score)
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-tDCS), post-tDCS sessions (approx. week 6), Follow-up (every three months for up to 1 year)
Depression symptoms will be assessed by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (24 item version, HAM-D; Hamilton, 1960).
Baseline (pre-tDCS), post-tDCS sessions (approx. week 6), Follow-up (every three months for up to 1 year)
Change in Anxiety symptoms from Baseline (HAM-A score)
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-tDCS), post-tDCS sessions (approx. week 6), Follow-up (every three months for up to 1 year)
Anxiety symptoms will be assessed by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HAM-A; Hamilton, 1959).
Baseline (pre-tDCS), post-tDCS sessions (approx. week 6), Follow-up (every three months for up to 1 year)
Change in Quality of Life from Baseline (WHOQOL-BREF score)
Time Frame: Baseline (pre-tDCS), post-tDCS sessions (approx. week 6), Follow-up (every three months for up to 1 year)
An abbreviated instrument of cross-culturally valid assessment of quality of life of the World Health Organization (WHOQOL-BREF) with 26 questions (WHOQOL Group, 1998; Skevington et al., 2004) yields 4 domains (physical health, psychological, social relationships, and environment) and 2 individually scored items regarding overall perception of quality of life (Q1) and health (Q2). The 4 domain scores are scaled in a way that higher scores stand for higher quality of life.
Baseline (pre-tDCS), post-tDCS sessions (approx. week 6), Follow-up (every three months for up to 1 year)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Soterix Medical

Collaborators

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Abhishek Datta, PhD, Soterix Medical

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

Helpful Links

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)

February 1, 2019

Primary Completion (ANTICIPATED)

September 30, 2019

Study Completion (ANTICIPATED)

September 30, 2019

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

January 18, 2019

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 5, 2019

First Posted (ACTUAL)

February 7, 2019

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

February 7, 2019

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 5, 2019

Last Verified

February 1, 2019

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • SMIN2712-P1
  • HS# 18-01324, GCO# 18-1920 (OTHER: Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)

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

Yes

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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.

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