Vagus Nerve Stimulation: Treatment for Gulf Veterans With Gulf War Illness
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT02791893. 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
Vagus Nerve Stimulation: A Non-invasive Treatment to Improve the Health of Gulf Veterans With Gulf War Illness
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
The researchers propose studying Gulf veterans with Gulf War Illness (GWI), characterized by a problem with widespread pain. Besides their pain, the researchers will also assess the effect of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) in alleviating migraine headache, another complaint of Gulf veterans, which is common in the presence of widespread pain. Importantly, the researchers are partnering with a company that has made a hand-held device that allows for stimulation of the vagus nerve without the need for surgery; it works by the patient putting it on the skin overlying the vagus nerve in their neck and then turning it on for 120 second periods three times a day. The device is programmed to deliver only 6 bouts of stimulation per day - one to each side of the neck three times a day; it is then inactive until the next day. The fact that this device can be used without surgery and is non-invasive makes it extremely practical for use. After collecting pre-treatment measurement of pain severity and headache severity, veterans will receive either the actual active VNS device or an inactive device, which does not stimulate the nerve. Veterans will use their device for ten weeks - providing similar information periodically over this period by responding to questions about the severity of their pain and headaches, They will then return to the Center for the final phase of the study where all veterans will receive active devices. Ten weeks later, they will return to the Center to provide information to allow the investigators to gain further knowledge as to the effectiveness of actual VNS in relieving pain - both throughout the body and in the head.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT02791893
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 27 participants
Conditions and interventions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 42 Years to 80 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
- Mar 20, 2017
- Primary completion
- Apr 14, 2020
- Completion
- Apr 14, 2020
- Last update posted
- May 2, 2021
2017 – 2020
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 4
- U.S. states
- 2
- U.S. cities
- 2
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Orange Veterans Administration Medical Center | East Orange | New Jersey | 07018 | — |
| Mount Sinai Beth Israel | New York | New York | 10003 | — |
| Pain and Fatigue Study Center - Beth Israel Medical Center | New York | New York | 10014 | — |
| Pain and Fatigue Study Center - Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai | New York | New York | 10029 | — |
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 NCT02791893, 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 May 2, 2021 · Synced Sep 15, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT02791893 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.