Effects of Chronic Non-invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation in an Asplenic Individual Suffering From Rheumatoid Arthritis

June 10, 2026 updated by: Pascal JD Grolaux, Osteoflow Health Clinic

Effects of Non-Invasive Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Longitudinal Prospective Case Study.

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if chronic self-administrated non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation works to improves the disease activity in a single asplenic patient suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. It will also learn about the safety of at-home chronic non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation. The main questions it aims to answer are:

Does chronic non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation improves the disease activity? Does chronic non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation decrease CRP serum level? Does chronic non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation improve HRV and the sympathy-vagal balance?

Participant will:

Stimulate at home the left auricular branch of the vagus nerve for 24 months with three different protocol of stimulation (parameters and duration) Visit the clinic once every 2 months for checkups and tests Will have blood work for CRP level check every 8 months

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The study used a repeated measures design. After instructions on the use of a standard nVNS device, the patient was given an "at-home" nVNS-treatment protocol for 24-month run-in period, that was divided in three 8-month treatment blocks where each block-period consisted of active nVNS with specific settings and daily stimulation time. Each block was divided in 4-time assessment i.e., AAAA-BBBB-CCCC, once every 2 months. No washout period was included.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

1

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

  • Canada
    • New Brunswick
      • Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, E1C 5N3
        • OsteoFlow Health Clinic

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • diagnosed RA
  • splenectomy

Exclusion Criteria:

Pharmaceutical treatment as:

  • disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs)
  • Biologics
  • Jak inhibitors

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: n-of-1
Device: Trans-auricular vagus nerve stimulation
24 months self-administrated trans-auricular vagus nerve stimulation in an asplenic patient.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in the Simple Disease Activity Index (SDAI) for Rheumatoid Arthritis
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 24 months
the Simple Disease Activity Index (SDAI) for Rheumatoid Arthritis is measured using the online MDCalc (https://www.mdcalc.com/calc/2194/simple-disease-activity-index-sdai-rheumatoid-arthritis)
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 24 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in the sympathovagal balance
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 24-month
the sympathovagal balance is calculated using the ratio of the power in normalized units of LF/HF. The analysis is processed with Kubios HRV Premium 3.5.0 software
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 24-month

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in the Neuro-immunological (NIM) Index
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 24-month
the neuro-immunological index express the effect of vagal modulation on inflammation and is the ratio of RMSSD / CRP
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 24-month

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Osteoflow Health Clinic

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)

January 30, 2020

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 4, 2022

Study Completion (Actual)

April 4, 2022

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

June 4, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 10, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

June 12, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

June 12, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

June 10, 2026

Last Verified

June 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • PI-KHA-RA20

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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