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Brain Network Changes Accompanying and Predicting Responses to Pharmacotherapy in OCD

Brain Network Changes Accompanying and Predicting Responses to Pharmacotherapy in OCD

Status
Recruiting
Phases
Phase 1Phase 2
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT04131829
Enrollment
100
Registered
2019-10-18
Start date
2019-10-14
Completion date
2026-12-31
Last updated
2025-08-14

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Brief summary

The proposed randomized, double-blind research study will use functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging using state-of-the-art HCP acquisition protocols and analytic pipelines, to identify predictors and correlates of response to an accepted first-line pharmacological treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Detailed description

The proposed study intends to recruit 2 groups: 1. Matched healthy control participants will be imaged with one fMRI at baseline as a no-treatment comparison group; and 2. a randomized, double-blind group of unmedicated OCD participants who will be assigned to begin either immediate or placebo-delayed treatment, and who will be imaged with fMRIs at baseline and over the course of treatment with a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI), fluoxetine. Hypothesis-driven analyses and exploratory analyses will be performed in parallel. This study will address the following Specific Aims: 1. Identification of neural dysconnectivity associated with OCD symptomatology. 2. Characterizing neural markers of clinical response to SSRI pharmacotherapy. 3. Mapping neural predictors of clinical response to pharmacotherapy.

Interventions

DRUGFluoxetine - immediate treatment

Following the Baseline assessment, OCD subjects will be randomized to receive either immediate fluoxetine monotherapy or delayed fluoxetine, after a 6-week placebo lead-in.

DRUGFluoxetine - delayed treatment

Following the Baseline assessment, OCD subjects will be randomized to receive either immediate fluoxetine monotherapy or delayed fluoxetine, after a 6-week placebo lead-in.

Sponsors

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
CollaboratorNIH
Yale University
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
DOUBLE (Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Intervention model description

80 OCD patients and 40 healthy participants matched on demographics will be recruited and asked to complete Structural (sMRI) and Functional (fMRI) Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Patients with OCD will be randomized to immediate monotherapy or 6-week placebo-delayed monotherapy, with fluoxetine.

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Inclusion criteria for all groups will include: (i) Adults, Men and women will be included, in a 1:1 ratio; and efforts will be made to recruit racial and ethnic subgroups. Groups will be further matched on age, handedness; and later, in analysis, on educational status and smoking history. (ii) signed informed consent, approved by the Yale Human Investigations Committee; and (iii) ability and willingness to participate in all study procedures, including clinical assessments and fMRI scans. * Additional inclusion criteria: * OCD Participants: (i) a DSM diagnosis of OCD, established as detailed above; (ii) a baseline Y-BOCS of ≥16; (iii) no current psychoactive medication, with the exception of the occasional use of a PRN medication for sleep; (iv) treatment seeking, and clinically appropriate for fluoxetine pharmacotherapy; (v) for women of childbearing potential, not pregnant or intending to become pregnant, and willing to use reliable birth control over the course of the study, either prescribed contraceptive (oral contraceptive, injectable, or implant) or one barrier method (e.g. diaphragm with spermicide, intrauterine device, cervical cap). Women of childbearing potential must have a negative serum pregnancy test at screening and negative urine pregnancy tests at the study baseline and on each scan day appointment prior to the MRI scan. * Healthy Control Participants: (i) no current DSM diagnosis (by clinician interview confirmed by SCID or MINI); (ii) no documented or clinically suspected family history in a first- or second- degree relative of OCD, Tourette syndrome, hoarding disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, or a compulsive grooming disorder.

Exclusion criteria

*

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Obsessive-compulsive severity change18 weeksYale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS);72,73 -This is a checklist and Clinician administered - 10 item severity scale, from none to extreme. Total severity score range is 0 to 40. This will be presented as % improvement in Y-BOCS as a continuous measure of treatment response, rather than an artificially dichotomized measure of 'response', in all analyses. This the primary outcome measure of change across the study treatment and scans.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Beck Depression Inventory-II18 weeksBeck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II);82 21 items to assess intensity of depression.
Anxiety18 weeksBeck Anxiety Inventory (BAI);83 21 item self report on a 4 point Likert scale - 0 (not at all) to 3 (severely).
Obsessive-compulsive concerns18 weeksDimensional Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (DOCS);84 20 questions, asks about 4 categories of obsessive-compulsive concerns (each consists of 5 items scored on a Likert scale of 0-no symptoms to 4 - extreme symptoms) over the previous month.
Tic severity change18 weeksYale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) will be used to measure Tic severity. It is a clinician administered instrument with a score from 0 to 25- 25 being the most severe.
Sensory phenomena18 weeksUniversity of São Paulo Sensory Phenomena Scale (USP-SPS);87
Not Just Right experiences and sensations in OCD18 weeksNot Just Right Experiences Questionnaire Revised (INC).88 19 Questions: Rate 10 NJR Experiences; Choose most recent one; Identify how long ago it occurred; then complete 7 dimensional ratings of that NJRE: frequency, intensity, immediate distress, delayed distress, rumination, urge to respond, and responsibility to do something about the NJRE, from 1 (absence) to 7 (extreme level /or within the past day).
Magical ideation18 weeksMagical Ideation Scale (MIS);86 30 item true / false scale, assessing erroneous beliefs based on magical thinking.

Countries

United States

Contacts

Primary ContactYale OCD Research Clinic
ocd.research@yale.edu1-855-623-9253
Backup ContactStephen Kichuk, MPH
stephen.kichuk@yale.edu203-974-7534

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026