Navigated Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation in Tumor Surgery

Stopped early

Conditions studied: Brain Tumors

In brief

Maximizing surgical removal of brain tumors while minimizing neurologic deficits is challenging. Functional brain tissue may reside close to or even within the abnormality, and inadvertent removal or disturbance of such areas can result in neurologic deficits. At present, the gold standard for identifying critical motor areas in tumor surgery is intraoperative invasive direct current stimulation (DCS) through a handpiece. More recently, new non-invasive preoperative method for brain mapping, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), may be used to identify the eloquent motor areas. fMRI signals used in localization of the motor areas are generated when the brain is activated during the performance of specific motor tasks. However, as fMRI signals are also generated by sensory input, the resulting fMRI map may include sensory as well as motor areas. Nexstim has developed a Navigated Brain Stimulation (NBS) system that uses TMS with a software based Navigational System that together may have more specific spatial accuracy. This study aims to determine whether navigated TMS is able to identify the eloquent motor cortical areas in patients with brain tumors and to determine the clinical accuracy of the procedure by comparing it to results obtained by intraoperative DCS and fMRI.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT01018290

Run by

Nexstim Ltd

People needed

20

Starts

2009-11-01

Expected to finish

2010-09-01

Last updated by the study team

2011-06-08

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 80. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Male or female subjects 18 years of age and over.
• A brain tumor in the vicinity of the central region.
• Mild (BMRC grade 4/5) or no paresis.
• Obscured anatomy of the central region due to the mass effect/infiltrating growth pattern of the lesion
• Scheduled for elective surgery under general or local anesthesia.
• No other known brain abnormalities by history or by structural MRI.
• Mentally and physically able to undergo MR imaging (fMRI, DTI) and navigated TMS studies
• Signed informed consent form.

You may not qualify if…

• Implanted metallic parts of implanted electronic devices, including pacemakers, defibrillators, or implant medication pump.
• Pregnant or trying to become pregnant.
• History of alcohol abuse, illicit drug use or drug abuse or significant mental illness
• Hypertensive or hypotensive condition.
• Any condition that would prevent the subject from giving voluntary informed consent.
• An implanted brain stimulator.
• Aneurysm clip or other metal in the head (except mouth
• Enrolled or plans to enroll in an interventional trial during this study.
• Scalp wounds or infections.
• Claustrophobia precluding MRI
• Frequent seizures (>1/week)

Where it is running

• Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston, Massachusetts, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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