Study Testing if Fast or Slow rTMS is Better for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT02158663. 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
Randomized Trial of 1 Hz Versus 10 Hz Right Prefrontal Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) for the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Objectives: The primary objective is to test whether right prefrontal cortex low frequency 1 Hz rTMS versus right prefrontal high frequency 10 Hz rTMS provides a significantly greater improvement in function as measured by IPF score and PTSD symptoms as measured with CAPS score. The secondary objectives include: one, testing which treatment provides a significantly greater improvement in depressive symptoms as measured by change in QIDS score; two, testing whether depression impacts effectiveness of 1 Hz versus 10 Hz rTMS for PTSD symptoms; three, testing which treatment is better tolerated as measured by participant drop out and side effect profiles. Research Design: Randomized single-blind (raters) prospective clinical trial testing the effectiveness 1 Hz rTMS versus 10 Hz rTMS in veterans with PTSD. Methodology: Veterans 18-50 years of age suffering from PTSD with and without depressive symptoms will be recruited from the community as well as mental health clinics at James A. Haley Veterans Administration Hospital. Plan to enroll 50 to have an evaluable sample of approximately 20 in each group. Participants will be consented and undergo screening for safety and appropriateness to be in the trial. Those deemed eligible will be evaluated with clinical measures of function, PTSD, depression, pain, and neurobehavioral symptoms. Participants will be randomized in equal proportion (stratified by significant depression defined as MADRS greater than 19) to one of two active treatments: right prefrontal 1 Hz rTMS versus right prefrontal 10 Hz rTMS. Participants will undergo assessment for safety prior to each treatment. The treatments will be performed 5 days a week for 6 weeks with a 3-week taper consisting of 3 days per week, 2 days per week, and 1 day per week. Clinical evaluations will be performed at baseline, after every five treatments, at the end of treatment, and at 1 and 3 months post treatment. CAPS and IPF scores will be used to determine if there is a significant difference between 1 Hz and 10 Hz right prefrontal rTMS for PTSD symptoms and function respectively. The QIDS scores will be used to test for a significant difference in change in depressive symptoms for both the participants with significant depressive symptoms and the entire group. The number of dropouts (related specifically to side effects and all cause) will be used along with side effect profiles to test for differences in tolerability of the two treatments.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT02158663
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 44 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 50 Years
- 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
- Jun 5, 2014
- Primary completion
- Mar 13, 2019
- Completion
- Mar 13, 2019
- Last update posted
- Apr 26, 2020
2014 – 2019
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| James A. Haley VAH | Tampa | Florida | 33612 | — |
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 NCT02158663, 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 Apr 26, 2020 · Synced Sep 4, 2026
Related: full search, browse by condition, browse by drug or therapy, browse by sponsor, browse by U.S. city.
Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT02158663 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.