Developing Brain Stimulation as a Treatment for Chronic Pain in Opiate Dependent
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03681769. 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.
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Effective control of chronic pain is a top priority in the United States, as approximately 10% of adults have severe chronic pain - most of which is chronic lower back pain (CLBP). However, despite the advances in neuroscience over the past 20 years, chronic pain is still largely treated with opiate narcotics, much as was done in the Civil War. In addition to the high abuse liability and dependence potential, only 30-40% of chronic pain patients declare they receive satisfactory (\>50%) relief from their pain through pharmacological treatment. In these patients a common clinical practice is to escalate the dose of opiates as tolerance develops - which unfortunately has contributed to escalation in opiate overdose deaths, a resurgence of intravenous heroin use, and $55 billion in societal costs. Consequently there is a critical need for new, treatments that can treat pain and reduce reliance on opiates in individuals with chronic pain. Aim 1. Evaluate repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) as a tool to dampen pain and the engagement of the Pain Network. Hypothesis 1: DLPFC TMS will attenuate the baseline brain response to pain (Pain Network activity) and increase activity in the Executive Control Network (ECN) when the patient is given instructions to 'control' the pain. Aim 2. Evaluate Medial Prefrontal Cortex (MPFC) rTMS as a tool to dampen pain and the engagement of the Pain Network. Hypothesis 1: MPFC TMS will also attenuate the baseline brain response to pain (Pain Network activity) but will not effect the ECN or the Salience Network (SN) when the patient is given instructions to 'control' the pain.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03681769
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Early Phase 1
- Enrollment
- 24 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
- iTBS to the left dlPFC Device
- Sham iTBS to the left dlPFC Device
- cTBS to the mPFC Device
- Sham cTBS to the mPFC Device
Device
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 75 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
- Feb 21, 2019
- Primary completion
- Mar 18, 2021
- Completion
- Mar 18, 2021
- Last update posted
- Feb 9, 2023
2019 – 2021
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Medical University of South Carolina | Charleston | South Carolina | 29425 | — |
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 NCT03681769, 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 Feb 9, 2023 · Synced Sep 7, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03681769 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.