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Effects of Individualized rTMS in DOC Patients

Effect of Individualized Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) in Patients With Disorder of Consciousness

Status
Recruiting
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT05187000
Enrollment
30
Registered
2022-01-11
Start date
2021-07-05
Completion date
2025-03-31
Last updated
2024-07-26

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

Conditions

Disorder of Consciousness, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation

Keywords

Disorder of Consciousness, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, randomized control trial

Brief summary

Background: Disorder of consciousness(DOC) is a series of arousal and cognitive disorders secondary to the most severe brain injury. Once a patient is diagnosed with a DOC, a poor prognosis is assumed and the rehabilitation for whom is greatly limited. Therefore, the treatment of DOC poses extraordinary challenges. Various treatments protocols have been reported of successful in promoting rehabilitation of DOC patients. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation(rTMS), as a non-invasive brain stimulation technique, has shown potentials for consciousness rehabilitation of DOC patients as it is effective in regulating the central nervous system. Methods and design: This protocol is a double-blind randomized sham-controlled crossover trial. Totally 30 participants will be randomly assigned to either group 1 or group 2 in a 1:1 ratio, with 15 patients in each group. Each patient will received 20 sessions, in which 10 sessions will be active and 10 will be sham, separated by 10-days washout period. The active-rTMS will include 10 Hz rTMS over the individual-targeted area on each participants. Primary and secondary evaluating indicators will be performed at each baseline and after rTMS treatment. Primary outcome will be determined as behavioral response to treatment as measured using the Coma Recovery Scale - Revised (CRS-R). Resting-state high-density EEG will be also recorded to investigate the neurophysiological correlates by rTMS. Discussion:This study will contribute to define the role of rTMS for the treatment of DOC patients and characterise the neural correlates of its action. The investigators proposed a method of individualized target selection for DOC patients based on the existing gold standard CRS-R score and MRI, and used a cross randomized controlled trial to verify the role of rTMS in DOC treatment.

Interventions

DEVICEindividualized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

During the rTMS-active stage, treatment will be given for 10 consecutive sessions (one session daily). The participants will be placed in the semi-reclining position on either a normal chair or a wheelchair and each stimulation session will last 20 minutes with a frequency of 10 Hz (train duration: 1s; inter-train interval: 5s; 200 effective stimulation series; 2000 pulses at 90% of RMT).

DEVICESham repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation

The sham coil will be used which has no magnetic field to send to the cerebral cortex while appearing to be the same shape as the active coil, with good approximation of auditory feedback.

Sponsors

Qiuyou Xie
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
CROSSOVER
Primary purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
QUADRUPLE (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
18 Years to 70 Years
Healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

1. acquired brain injuries less than 1 year and more than 28 days in DOC; 2. clinical diagnosis of DOC Disease; 3. no medical history of neuropsychiatric diseases; 4. no contraindications for rTMS or EEG, no sedatives in use or other drugs that might interfere with brain stimulation, such as Na+ or Ca2+ channel blockers or NMDA receptor antagonists; 5. stable state of disease and vital signs; 6. the families of the patients volunteered the patient to participate in the study and provided signed informed consent; 7. the integrity of the individualized stimulation target cortex are verified by MRI.

Exclusion criteria

1. patients in other non-invasive or invasive neuroregulation trials; 2. motor evoked potential (MEP) in M1 region cannot be induced by TMS pulse; 3. uncontrolled epilepsy, seizure within 4 weeks before enrollment; 4. metallic implant in the skull, pacemaker, craniotomy under the stimulated site, implanted brain device.

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change from Baseline JFK Coma Recovery Scale-Revised(CRS-R) for Crossover Study 1immediately after 10 days individualized rTMS sessionThe Coma Recovery Scale-Revised(CRS-R), a total of 23 points, is widely used to define the level of consciousness and assess neurobehavioral recovery of patients with DOC. It is based on six subscales that assess auditory(4 points), visual(5 points), motor(6 points), motor/speech(3 points), communication(2 points), and arousal processes(3 points). Each item of CRS-R is in good agreement with the diagnostic and differential diagnostic criteria of VS/UWS, MCS and EMCS. The higher scores mean a better outcome.
Change from Baseline JFK Coma Recovery Scale-Revised(CRS-R) for Crossover Study 2immediately after Washout periodThe Coma Recovery Scale-Revised(CRS-R), a total of 23 points, is widely used to define the level of consciousness and assess neurobehavioral recovery of patients with DOC. It is based on six subscales that assess auditory(4 points), visual(5 points), motor(6 points), motor/speech(3 points), communication(2 points), and arousal processes(3 points). Each item of CRS-R is in good agreement with the diagnostic and differential diagnostic criteria of VS/UWS, MCS and EMCS. The higher scores mean a better outcome.
Change from Baseline JFK Coma Recovery Scale-Revised(CRS-R) for Crossover Study 3immediately after 10 days sham rTMS sessionThe Coma Recovery Scale-Revised(CRS-R), a total of 23 points, is widely used to define the level of consciousness and assess neurobehavioral recovery of patients with DOC. It is based on six subscales that assess auditory(4 points), visual(5 points), motor(6 points), motor/speech(3 points), communication(2 points), and arousal processes(3 points). Each item of CRS-R is in good agreement with the diagnostic and differential diagnostic criteria of VS/UWS, MCS and EMCS. The higher scores mean a better outcome.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Change from Baseline Resting-State EEG for Crossover Study 1immediately after 10 days individualized rTMS sessionEEG will be acquired from 66 channels with positions of the International 10-20 System for 10 mins. The relative spectral power (RSP) and functional connectivity (FC) of participants will be calculated by the selected artifact-free EEG epochs at five frequency bands: δ (1-4 Hz), θ (4-8 Hz), α (8-13 Hz), β (13-30 Hz), and γ (30-45 Hz). The investigators will compute off-line analysis to calculate RSP and FC.
Change from Baseline Resting-State EEG for Crossover Study 2immediately after Washout periodEEG will be acquired from 66 channels with positions of the International 10-20 System for 10 mins. The relative spectral power (RSP) and functional connectivity (FC) of participants will be calculated by the selected artifact-free EEG epochs at five frequency bands: δ (1-4 Hz), θ (4-8 Hz), α (8-13 Hz), β (13-30 Hz), and γ (30-45 Hz). The investigators will compute off-line analysis to calculate RSP and FC.
Change from Baseline Resting-State EEG for Crossover Study 3immediately after 10 days sham rTMS sessionEEG will be acquired from 66 channels with positions of the International 10-20 System for 10 mins. The relative spectral power (RSP) and functional connectivity (FC) of participants will be calculated by the selected artifact-free EEG epochs at five frequency bands: δ (1-4 Hz), θ (4-8 Hz), α (8-13 Hz), β (13-30 Hz), and γ (30-45 Hz). The investigators will compute off-line analysis to calculate RSP and FC.

Countries

China

Contacts

Primary ContactChengwei Xu, BSc
943131151@qq.com+86 134 5045 7096
Backup ContactQiuyou Xie, PhD
764942251@qq.com+86 139 0301 9604

Outcome results

None listed

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