Understanding and Restoring Dopaminergic Function in Fibromyalgia Patients (FIBRODOPA)

January 12, 2021 updated by: University of Fribourg

Understanding and Restoring Dopaminergic Function in Fibromyalgia Patients Using a Mindfulness-based Psychological Intervention: A [18F]-DOPA Positron Emissions Tomography (PET) Study Study Protocol for the FIBRODOPA Study- a Randomized Controlled Trial

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a very prevalent and debilitating chronic pain disorder that is difficult to treat. Mindfulness-based techniques are regarded as a very promising approach for the treatment of chronic pain and in particular FM. The Mindfulness-Oriented Recovery Enhancement (MORE) intervention, a mindfulness-based group intervention, has shown beneficial effects in opioid-treated chronic pain patients, including reduced pain severity, functional interference, and opioid dosing, by restoring neurophysiological and behavioral responses to reward. First evidence for a hypodopaminergic state and impaired reward processing in FM have been reported. However, little is known about its impact on dopamine (DA) function and in particular with regard to DA responses to monetary reward in FM. The aim of the present study protocol is to evaluate if MORE is able to restore the DA function in FM patients, in particular with regard to the DA responses to reward, and to reduce pain and mood complaints in FM.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

the present study is a multi-center randomized controlled trial (RCT) with 3 time points: before the intervention, after completion of the intervention and 3-months after completion of the intervention. Eighty FM patients will be randomly assigned to either the MORE intervention (N=40) or to a wait-list control group (N=40). Additionally a comparison group of healthy women (N=20) will be enrolled. The MORE intervention consists of eight 2-hour long group sessions administered weekly over a period of 8 weeks. Before and after the intervention, FM participants will undergo [18F] DOPA Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging while performing a monetary reward task. The primary outcome will be endogeneous DA changes measured with [18F] DOPA PET at baseline, after the intervention (after 8 weeks for control group), and at 3 months' follow-up. Secondary outcomes will be (1) clinical pain measures and FM symptoms using standardized clinical scales 2) functional brain changes 3) measures of negative and positive affect, stress and reward experience in daily life using the Experience Sampling method (ESM) 4) biological measures of stress including cortisol and alpha-amylase.

Design: If the findings of this study confirm the effectiveness of MORE in restoring DA function, reducing pain and improving mood symptoms, MORE can be judged to be a promising means to improve quality of life in FM patients. The findings of this trial may inform health care providers about the potential use of the MORE intervention as a possible non-pharmacological intervention for FM.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

80

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 Contact

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

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

16 years to 68 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Fibromyalgia syndrome
  • no psychiatric disorders
  • right handed
  • older than 18 years,

Exclusion Criteria:

  • male sex
  • history of neurological disorders
  • left handed
  • psychiatric disorders
  • current substance or tobacco abuse
  • current and past substance dependence
  • schizophrenia spectrum disorder
  • any other form of chronic pain apart from Fibromyalgia

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: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: MORE Mindfulness oriented recovery enhancement group
Behavioral: Mindfulness oriented recovery enhancement
8- week psychological program based on mindfulness techniques
No Intervention: Control
wait-list

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Dopamine response
Time Frame: within the second year
Dopamine response measured with 18F-DOPA as percent Bold signal change Range 0.001 +/-0.009 ml g -1 per min
within the second year

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
changes in pain and clinical related measures
Time Frame: within the second year
measured with the brief pain inventory questionnaire (BPI, Cleeland, 1994) Range: 0-40. 0 corresponds to no interference with pain in daily life and 40 corresponds to maximal interference of pain in daily life
within the second year

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Fribourg

Collaborators

University of Zurich
University of Utah
University of Lausanne

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Chantal o Martin Sölch, PhD, University of Fribourg

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 (Anticipated)

March 1, 2021

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

January 1, 2023

Study Completion (Anticipated)

January 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 19, 2020

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 26, 2020

First Posted (Actual)

June 30, 2020

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

January 13, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

January 12, 2021

Last Verified

January 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • FIBRODOPA TRIAL

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

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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