Improving Brain Stimulation Through Imaging
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03851380. 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
Targeting Functional Improvement in rTMS Therapy
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
There are two protocols, one involving rTMS therapy in people with treatment resistant depression and one involving tDCS in people with stress from the COVID 19 pandemic. Clinic-Based rTMS Therapy: Repetitive pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a noninvasive treatment that involves stimulating the brain; however, treatment benefit depends on placing a TMS coil in the correct place on the head to reach critical brain regions below. Clinicians typically use scalp-based targeting, a process in which rather than using MRI guidance to target brain regions for stimulation, they use landmarks on the scalp. Several researchers, including the investigators' lab, showed that the current scalp-based targeting techniques do not position stimulation above the correct brain region, and patients fail to respond. The investigators propose to improve clinical scalp-based targeting by comparing it to MRI guided targeting. The most common clinical population receiving rTMS therapy is depressed patients. The investigators' plan is to study the accuracy of certain scalp-based rules in patients with depression. Accurate brain stimulation targeting is critical for effective rTMS therapy. Home-Based Neuromodulation: For participants who are not undergoing rTMS therapy who have COVID-19 distress, we are offering a combined home-based neuromodulation (transcranial electrical stimulation) and focused psychotherapy program dedicated to improving the same outcome measure, quality of life. Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) stimulates the brain over a large region; however, we are able to model with brain imaging which brain regions receive the strongest stimulation. Our goal is still to examine stimulation precision, but we will test whether strength of tES in the same brain regions that rTMS is targeting will also lead to improved quality of life. We will also carefully assess whether it is possible to measure healthy functioning, an outcome in the rTMS study, because sheltering in place may reduce activities and thus distort our measure. We will also test whether our psychotherapy intervention will mitigate this effect and, if so, we may make it available to all those depressed Veterans in whom we're studying the effect of neuromodulation on functioning.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03851380
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Observational
- Phase
- Not listed
- Enrollment
- 54 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Interventions
- Psychological / Functional Assessment Behavioral
- Structural and Functional MRI Other
- Transcranial Magnetic Brain Stimulation and MR Image Guidance Device
- Transcranial Electrical Stimulation (tES) Device
Behavioral · Other · Device
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 18 Years to 89 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
- Sep 30, 2019 (Actual)
- Primary completion
- Jul 31, 2024 (Actual)
- Completion
- Jul 31, 2024 (Actual)
- Last update posted
- Aug 3, 2026
2019 – 2024
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 1
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VA Palo Alto Health Care System, Palo Alto, CA | Palo Alto | California | 94304-1207 | — |
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 NCT03851380, 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 Aug 3, 2026 · Synced Oct 16, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete public registry record, listed eligibility criteria, and available contact information for NCT03851380 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.