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Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) on Patients With Chronic Orofacial Pain

NCT01883245 · Status: TERMINATED · Phase: PHASE2 · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 30

Last updated 2014-03-19

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Patients affected by chronic orofacial pain represent an emergent medical problem due to the lack of knowledge on the cause, pathophysiology and psychology of many of these conditions, that belongs to a multifactorial origin.

Particularly, temporomandibular joint disorders involve a series of symptoms that refers both to intrinsic and extrinsic joint conditions where pain can be associated to a reduction of the joint movement, click or to other sounds of the joint.

The lack of a recognized causal therapy led to the suggestion of many treatment modalities with a multidisciplinary approach for the management of symptoms that include the use of occlusal splints, physiotherapy-speech therapy, behavioral and physical therapy, drugs, chirurgical approaches. In most cases these strategies together allow the control of the symptoms, even though they aren't completely resolutive.

In these patients is frequent chronic pain and ineffectiveness of common drugs used.

It has been demonstrated how transcranial electrical brain stimulation with direct current (tDCS) is able to reduce the intensity and the duration of chronic pain.

Stimulating the motor cortex can reduce pain by modulating brain activities in the areas involved in cerebral circuits controlling pain, such as thalamus, facilitating the descendant inhibitory mechanisms and enhancing the number of opiates receptors.

This clinical trial is based on the evaluation of the effects of tDCS on pain and on activities daily living (ADL) participation patients with chronic orofacial pain that don't respond to other treatments.

Conditions

  • Orofacial Pain

Interventions

DEVICE

real tDCS

2 milliampere real direct current stimulation for 20 minutes daily for 5 days.

DEVICE

sham tDCS

2 milliampere sham direct current stimulation for 20 minutes daily for 5 days.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University Hospital of Ferrara

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
75 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2013-05-31
Primary Completion
2013-10-31
Completion
2014-02-28

Countries

  • Italy

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT01883245 on ClinicalTrials.gov