Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Electrical Stimulation of Nerves to Study Focal Dystonia
Completed
Conditions studied: Dystonic Disorders
In brief
This study will use transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and electrical stimulation of nerves to examine how the brain controls muscle movement in focal hand dystonia (writer's cramp). Normally, when a person moves a finger, the brain's motor cortex prevents the other fingers from moving involuntarily. Patients with focal hand dystonia have difficulty with individualized finger movements, possibly due to increased excitability of the motor cortex. Musicians, writers, typists, athletes and others whose work involves frequent repetitive movements may develop focal dystonia of the hand. Healthy normal volunteers and patients with focal dystonia 18 years of age and older may be eligible for this study. For the TMS procedure, subjects are seated in a comfortable chair with their hands placed on a pillow on their lap. An insulated wire coil is placed on the scalp. A brief electrical current is passed through the coil, creating a magnetic pulse that stimulates the brain. This may cause muscle, hand or arm twitching if the coil is near the part of the brain that controls movement, or it may induce twitches or transient tingling in the forearm, head or face muscles. Subjects will be asked to move a finger. Just before this movement, a brief electrical stimulation will be applied to the end of either the second or fifth finger. Metal electrodes will be taped to the skin over the muscle for computer recording of the electrical activity of the hand and arm muscles activated by the stimulation. The testing will last 2-3 hours. ...
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT00050024
- Run by
- National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
- People needed
- 38
- Starts
- 2002-11-13
- Expected to finish
- 2008-09-17
- Last updated by the study team
- 2017-07-02
Who can join
Age: 18 and older. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.
You may not qualify if…
- Exclusion criteria for the trial covering both the normal control and dystonia group will include any concurrent medical or surgical condition as well as neurological or psychiatric illnesses.
- Exclusion criteria will include any individual who is on medications with potential influence of the nervous system function (antidepressants, anxiolytics, anticonvulsants, antipsychotic, antiparkinson, hypnotics, stimulants, and antihistamines).
- The exclusion criteria also include patients who have received Botulinum toxin injection within 3 months of starting the protocol.
- Furthermore, any individual who has a pacemaker, an implanted medical pump, a metal plate or metal object in the skull or eye (for example, after brain surgery), or who has a history of seizure disorder will be excluded from the trial.
Where it is running
- National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike — Bethesda, Maryland, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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