Study of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Parkinson's Disease
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00029666. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
Placebo Controlled Study of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) for the Treatment of Parkinson's Disease
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
This study will examine the effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on Parkinson's disease symptoms. rTMS is a way of stimulating the brain that may be able to change the electrical activity of the nerve cells in the brain. It has been proposed as a treatment for brain disorders, including Parkinson's disease. In preliminary studies, some patients' symptoms improved; in some they worsened temporarily, and some showed no change. Patients between 40 and 80 years of age with moderately severe Parkinson's disease, whose main problem is slowness of movement and stiffness, may be eligible for this study. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two treatment groups: one will receive rTMS to parts of the brain involved in controlling movement; the other will receive sham, or placebo, stimulation. Nine treatments will be given over a 4-1/2 week period. Patients will take their Parkinson's disease medications during the study, but will stop taking the medicines for 4 to 5 hours before one of the sessions. For rTMS, an insulated wire coil is placed on the scalp. A brief electrical current is passed through the coil, creating a magnetic pulse that stimulates the brain. The pulses are delivered in trains, or short bursts, lasting 1 second each. There will be 48 trains for a total of 1200 pulses per 24-minute session. The stimulation may cause muscle twitching in the scalp or face and may also cause small movements of the limbs. Just before and after each rTMS session, patients will have a neurologic examination, including an evaluation of walking. Their motor function tests will be recorded on videotape to document possible improvement and to allow physicians to rate the improvement. The physicians will not know which patients are receiving actual rTMS and which are receiving sham treatment. Ratings before the first and after the last rTMS sessions will be more detailed.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT00029666
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Phase 2
- Enrollment
- 40 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- Not listed
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Dec 31, 2001
- Primary completion
- Not listed
- Completion
- Feb 28, 2005
- Last update posted
- Mar 3, 2008
2002 – 2005
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) | Bethesda | Maryland | 20892 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT00029666, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Mar 3, 2008 · Synced Sep 12, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT00029666 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.