tACS for Neuropathic Pain Management After SCI

tACS Brain Neuromodulation for Sensory and Motor Recovery After Neurological Impairments

Status

Recruiting

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Interventional

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT06029075

Enrollment

Registered

2023-09-08

Start date

2025-09-01

Completion date

2028-03-31

Last updated

2026-06-03

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

Conditions

Neuropathic Pain Management

Keywords

tACS, Neuropathic Pain

Brief summary

The overall goal is to investigate the effectiveness of a novel intervention - transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) for neuropathic pain management in people after spinal cord injury.

Interventions

DEVICEtACS Sham

Sham tACS will applied to the brain through the scalp for 20 minutes.

DEVICEtACS 10Hz

10Hz tACS will applied to the brain through the scalp for 20 minutes.

DEVICEtACS 20Hz

20Hz tACS will applied to the brain through the scalp for 20 minutes.

Study design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Intervention model

CROSSOVER

Primary purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

SINGLE (Subject)

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Age

18 Years to 75 Years

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Inclusion/

Exclusion criteria

for SCI subjects Inclusion criteria: A patient who 1. has neuropathic pain after traumatic spinal cord injury or amputation or brain injury; 2. has chronic pain, \>3 months; 3. is between 18 to 75 years of age; 4. is stable on oral pain medications at least two weeks. Patients are allowed to continue their pain medications, i.e., no change in pain medications. NOTE: we plan to begin the study with the spinal cord injury (SCI) subject population as a cohort first, then expand to other subject populations

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Pain scale (visual analogue scale, VAS) measurement	Change of VAS 5 minutes before and after the tACS intervention will be measured.	The visual analog scale (VAS) is a validated, subjective measure for acute and chronic pain. Scores are recorded by making a handwritten mark on a 10-cm line that represents a continuum between "no pain" and "worst pain."
Heart rate variability (HRV) measurement	Change of HRV 10-15 minutes before and after the tACS intervention will be measured.	Heart rate variability (HRV) is the fluctuation in the time intervals between adjacent heartbeats (1). HRV indexes neurocardiac function and is generated by heart-brain interactions and dynamic non-linear autonomic nervous system (ANS) processes. HRV will be used as a surrogate assessment for autonomic nerve system

Countries

United States

Contacts

CONTACTSheng Li, MD, Ph.D

sheng.li@uth.tmc.edu(713) 797-7125

CONTACTShengai Li, MS

shengai.li@uth.tmc.edu713-797-7561

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORSheng Li, MD, Ph.D

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Outcome results

None listed

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