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Neurofeedback for Treatment of Central Neuropathic Pain (CNP) in Sub-acute Spinal Cord Injury (SCI)

NCT02178917 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 20

Last updated 2019-03-01

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) affects a person's ability to move and feel sensation in the body. SCI is also an indirect cause of a persistent pain, called Central Neuropathic Pain (CNP). This pain typically develops several months after the injury. In 30-40% of SCI patients, severe CNP affects their everyday living including sleep and mood. Many patients give up work, not because of the injury, but because of pain. Medical treatment of CNP is moderately effective and costly, both to the patient and to the health care system.

In previous research, characteristic 'signatures' of brain waves that are probably related to CNP have been defined. Based on this, a novel treatment for CNP based on neurofeedback was developed and clinically tested on five SCI patients. Electroencephalograph (EEG) was used to record patients' brain waves and these were shown to patients on a computer screen in a simple graphical form (e.g. bars). Patients were trained to change their brain activity at will and, as a consequence, their pain was reduced. Patients who had suffered from CNP for years received up to 40 neurofeedback treatment sessions, reducing their pain for several days after each session.

The primary aim of this study is to apply neurofeedback therapy to a larger number of recently injured patients, who are still in a hospital. It is hypothesised that neurofeedback treatment will be more effective in people who have suffered from CNP for a shorter period of time.

The secondary aim of the study is to define EEG predictors of CNP. EEG will be recorded in recently injured patients with no chronic pain, knowing that a certain number of patients will develop CNP within weeks or months. These patients will be followed up for a year and the EEGs of patients who develop CNP will be compared with those who do not.

Conditions

  • Spinal Cord Injury

Interventions

OTHER

Neurofeedback therapy

OTHER

No neurofeedback therapy

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Glasgow

    collaborator OTHER

  • NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
75 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2014-08-27
Primary Completion
2017-11-29
Completion
2017-11-29

Countries

  • United Kingdom

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 NCT02178917 on ClinicalTrials.gov