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Imaging Lymphatic/Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) Drainage From the Head and Neck in Persons With Traumatic Brain Injury: Demonstration of Feasibility and Evaluation of Manual Therapy to Improve Drainage and Facilitate Cognitive Recovery

Imaging Lymphatic/CSF Drainage From the Head and Neck in Persons With Traumatic Brain Injury: Demonstration of Feasibility and Evaluation of Manual Therapy to Improve Drainage and Facilitate Cognitive Recovery

Status
Terminated
Phases
Unknown
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05129514
Enrollment
2
Registered
2021-11-22
Start date
2022-05-18
Completion date
2023-12-31
Last updated
2026-03-10

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

Conditions

Neuroinflammation, Trauma, Brain

Keywords

traumatic brain injury, lymphatic drainage, cerebrospinal fluid

Brief summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether a course of daily manual lymphatic drainage over the course of 5 days can improve lymphatic drainage function and cognitive outcomes and to determine whether single sessions of manual lymphatic drainage improves lymphatic drainage in moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients.

Interventions

The participant will be placed in a supine position and manual lymphatic drainage will be performed for 50 minutes. During the three intervening days, daily 50 minute sessions of manual lymphatic drainage will be provided.

Sponsors

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston
Lead SponsorOTHER
HeadStrong Foundation
CollaboratorUNKNOWN

Study design

Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

* Female participants must complete the Female Enrollment Form. Those subjects of childbearing potential must have a negative urine pregnancy within 36 hours of study drug administration and also agree to use one of the medically accepted methods of contraception listed on the form for a period of one month following the study. Female subjects of non-childbearing potential, defined as physiologically incapable of becoming pregnant, must meet the criteria listed on the Female Enrollment form, but are not restricted to the use of contraception following study participation. * Participants must be able to sit upright for periods of 30 minutes. * Participants should have a body mass index between 19 and 30 kg/m2 * Initial post-resuscitation Glasgow Coma Scale score following blunt head trauma of 3 to 12 or coma (not due to sedation) greater than 6 hours. Emergence from Post-traumatic Amnesia as documented by serial administration of the Orientation-Log or Galveston Orientation and Amnesia Test * Have an anticipated hospital length of stay of 5 days or more following screening and consent. * Able to provide consent.

Exclusion criteria

* Women who are pregnant or breast-feeding * Persons who are known to be allergic to iodine * Persons who have extensive soft tissue damage to the neck region, including carotid artery dissection, spinal cord injury, or other conditions, that makes lymphatic drainage techniques undesirable. * Women who are of child bearing potential who do not agree to use medically acceptable contraceptives for one month following the study. * Subjects who are participating in another interventional trial.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
change in Near-Infrared Fluorescence Lymphatic Imaging (NIRF-LI) assessment of lymphatic drainageday 1, day 52 NIRF-LI sessions will be conducted separated by 3 days.
change in cognitive test results as assessed by the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)-Global health( GH) scaleday1,day2,day3,day4,day5Nine of the 10 PROMIS GH items are scored on a Likert scale from 1 to 5, with 5 representing the best health. Pain which is the 10th question is scored from 0(no pain) to 10(worst imaginable pain).
change in cognitive test results as assessed by the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9)day1,day2,day3,day4,day5This scale consists of a set of 9 questions each scored form 0(not at all) to 3 (nearly every day), a higher score indicating a worse outcome. Total score ranges form 0-27.
change in cognitive test results as assessed by the Multilingual Aphasia Examination III-Controlled Oral Word Associationday1,day2,day3,day4,day5This is used to asses phonemic fluency. Participant is asked to name words that begin with a particular letter in one minute and examiner will write down the words said by the participant. This will be reported y the number of words participants say in one minute
change in cognitive test results as assessed by the Trail Making Test(TMT)day1,day2,day3,day4,day5Scores are reported as the number of seconds required to complete the task; therefore, higher scores reveal greater impairment.
change in cognitive test results as assessed by the learning trialday1,day2,day3,day4,day5This will be assessed by the number of words participants can remember
change in cognitive test results as assessed by the delayed recall trial instructionsday1,day2,day3,day4,day5This will be assessed by the number of words participants can remember after 20-25 minutes delay
change in cognitive test results as assessed by the Semantic Category learning trialday1,day2,day3,day4,day5There are 12 words that participants will categories as Four-legged Animals, precious stones and human dwellings for a total score from 0-12 a higher number indicates a better outcome
Change in processing speed, as assessed by the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale -IVday1,day2,day3,day4,day5Two subtests from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - IV are used (Coding and Symbol Search). Age-adjusted standard scores are calculated for each of subtest. The 2 subtest scores are then combined to create the Processing Speed Index. Processing Speed Index will be reported as a percentile (0% to 100%), with a higher percentile indicating a better outcome

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change in NIRF-LI detected lymphatic drainageday1,day5response of NIRF-LI detected lymphatic drainage in response to manual lymphatic drainage by imaging drainage before and after manual lymphatic drainage

Countries

United States

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOREva Sevick, PhD

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Mar 11, 2026