Efficacy and Safety of tACS for Depression: a Multicenter RCT Study

March 18, 2025 updated by: Ruijin Hospital

Efficacy and Safety of Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation for Depression: a Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial Study

Transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) is a promising non-invasive technique for major depression, because of its advantage of lower risks and expenses compared to other therapies such as deep brain stimulation, electroconvulsive therapy, and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of depression treated by tACS have been conducted but provided limited and incongruous results. We designed a multi-center RCT to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tACS for depression.

Eligible participants will be patients diagnosed with depression (HDRS-17≥8), aged 18 to 65, and without other conditions that could interfere with the study. A total of 72 participants will be recruited from 4 clinic centers. Participants will be randomized 1:1 to active tACS or sham stimulation group. The study staff and the participants are blinded to the randomization results. Stimulating electrodes will be placed on the scalp corresponding to bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) using frequency of 10Hz and amplitude of 1.5 to 2.0 mA. The intervention will last for 4 weeks, containing 20 40-minute sessions in total. Another 4-week observation will be followed by the end of the intervention. Participants will receive assessments at baseline, 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, and 8 weeks after the study begins. Psychological scales are used for the evaluation of their mental and quality of life. Besides, electroencephalogram (EEG) recording and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans will also be performed to quantitatively measure the neural activities as well as the functional connectivity changes within the depression-related circuits.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

72

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 Locations

  • China
      • Shanghai, China, 200025
        • Recruiting
        • Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine
        • Contact:
      • Shanghai, China, 200025
        • Not yet recruiting
        • Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine
        • Contact:

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. Clinical diagnosis of depressive disorder;
  2. Age ranges between 18 and 65 years;
  3. HDRS-17 score equals to or above 8;
  4. No medical history/Under stable antidepressant treatment in one month;

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Combination of other psychotic disorders and neurological diseases;
  2. History of invasive brain surgeries;
  3. Non-invasive neurostimulation treatments within 3 months;
  4. Physical condition that may endanger patients' safety during 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: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Sham Comparator: Control group
Device: sham transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation
we use fade-in, short-stimulation, fade-out (FSF) stimulation pattern, with 60s-long fade-in/out periods, 2.0mA peak current at the beginning and the end of stimulation session
Active Comparator: Treatment group
Device: active tACS
The active tACS protocol lasted for 40 min of continuous sine-wave stimulation with the frequency of 10Hz and an amplitude ranging from 1.5mA to 2.0mA, adjusted according to the tolerability among individuals.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Clinical remission
Time Frame: 4 weeks after the intervention
The primary endpoint is defined as the decreased scores of Hamilton Depression Scale-17 (HDRS-17) at the 4-week follow-up compared to baseline scores. HDRS ranges from 0 to 68, with higher scores indicating more severe depression symptoms. The two-sample t-test is used to test the difference in score changes between the treatment group and control group at the 4-week follow-up visit point.
4 weeks after the intervention

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Adverse events
Time Frame: 8 weeks, when the study is completed
The adverse events will be reported by physicians at the 8-week follow-up visit, which items include the number of the events, the severe levels of each event, and its duration time.
8 weeks, when the study is completed

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Ruijin Hospital

Collaborators

Shanghai Mental Health Center
Shandong Mental Health Center

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)

October 8, 2024

Primary Completion (Estimated)

September 8, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

October 8, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 29, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 18, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 18, 2025

Last Verified

September 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 20240913

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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