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Investigation of Plastic Changes in the CNS Associated With Peripheral Neuropathy

NCT03805893 · Status: UNKNOWN · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 20

Last updated 2019-01-16

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Recent neuroimaging literature on neuropathy suggests that chronic pain is characterized by learning-related and memory-related plastic changes of the central nervous system (CNS) with concomitant maladaptive changes in body perception. In particular, it is well accepted that learning-induced functional and structural brain changes involve, in addition to sensorimotor cortex, also limbic and frontal areas that mediate the transition from acute to chronic pain, resulting in pathological processing of body image, impaired multisensory integration and faulty feedback from various interoceptive processes. Interestingly, these alterations share many similarities with brain changes in emotional disorders and the specificity for pain needs to be determined. Moreover, the diagnosis and management of neuropathic pain syndromes remains a major clinical challenge, and this failure is partly attributed to our inability to identify functional brain changes that not only contribute to these syndromes, but also expose the patient to psychological burden that might lead to drug abuse. Although opioids are currently used frequently as first line therapy to alleviate pain caused by the various forms of neuropathies, recent reports indicate that long-term opioid therapy does not improve functional status but rather is associated with a higher risk of depression as well as subsequent opioid dependency and overdose. Thus, in order to improve therapeutic interventions in this patient group, it is imperative to develop a mechanistic model of central processes that could both explain and predict longitudinal changes associated with neuropathic pain syndromes. The identification of the correct sources of pain sensation (i.e. the contribution of central rather than peripheral factors to pain chronicity) is of paramount importance since the clinical course and patient management is likely to differ depending on the exact underlying cause.

Conditions

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Moderate heat pain

To apply a sensory challenge that can be applied over longer periods required for PET imaging and that is also compatible with high magnetic fields during MRI scanning, we will use a well-established thermal challenge of the lower extremity. To apply mildly painful heat to the patient, the right leg (from the foot up to the knee) will be wrapped in a blanket that incorporates a network of small-diameter plastic tubing through which hot water (45 - 55 oC) is circulated from a temperature-controlled reservoir.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Wayne State University

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
PARALLEL

Eligibility

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

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2019-02-01
Primary Completion
2020-11-30
Completion
2020-12-31

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Diseases

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 NCT03805893 on ClinicalTrials.gov