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Vagal Nerve Stimulation for Gastroparesis

NCT03120325 · Status: TERMINATED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 24

Last updated 2023-09-13

Study results available
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Summary

This study is investigating a new form of treatment for a digestive disorder called gastroparesis. Gastroparesis is thought to be caused by a mix of inflammation and neural dysfunction. The vagal nerve is a large nerve originating from the brain that regulates digestive function. Patients with gastroparesis have what is a called a low vagal tone which results in gastrointestinal motility problems and inflammation; therefore, investigators hypothesize that increasing vagal tone through a hand-held vagal nerve simulator will reduce inflammation and gastrointestinal motility problems in gastroparesis patients. Investigators will evaluate this hypothesis through the use of upper endoscopy testing, breath testing, and blood, stool, urine, heart rate variability, and saliva testing before and after 4 weeks of vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) treatment.

There are 6 research visits

Visit 1 and visit 2 may take up to 8 weeks (screening/baseline) Visit 3 and visit 4 will take 4 weeks (VNS treatment) visit 5 and 6 will take approximately 4 weeks (VNS followup/washout)

Consequently, it is possible that if a patient were to be at the farthest ends of visit windows, they could potentially be in the study for approx 16 weeks. Visit 1 and 2 may be less than 8 weeks which would shorten the patient's overall involvement in the study.

The treatment phase of the study will always be 4 weeks with an additional 4 week washout phase.

Use of the VNS device takes 4 weeks. Endoscopy and blood work are taken before and after the treatment period.

Conditions

Interventions

DEVICE

Vagal Nerve Stimulation

Patients will be giving themselves vagal nerve stimulation for four weeks at interval of two times a day for two minutes on each side for four weeks. The impact of the intervention on gastroparesis symptoms will be measured by upper endoscopy biopsies, blood work, autonomic function tests, survey data, stool samples, urine sample, and saliva samples before after after the four weeks of stimulation treatment.

Sponsors & Collaborators

Principal Investigators

  • Andres Gottfried, MD PHD · Stanford University

  • Linda Nguyen, MD · Stanford University

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age
21 Years
Max Age
65 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2017-03-01
Primary Completion
2018-08-24
Completion
2018-08-24
FDA Device
Yes

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases
Companies

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 NCT03120325 on ClinicalTrials.gov