Effects of Direct Transcranial Current Stimulation on Central Neural Pain Processing in Fibromyalgia

Completed · Phase 1/Phase 2

Conditions studied: Fibromyalgia

In brief

The main goal of this Collaborative Proposal is to investigate biochemical, functional, and structural neuroimaging changes following non-invasive brain stimulation in patients with chronic widespread pain: fibromyalgia (FM). The fact that multiple therapeutic modalities which focus on central mechanisms provide modest relief for these patients raises the possibility that the cause for the chronicity of this debilitating disorder may lie within the brain itself. We propose that changes in the cortical milieu may result from prolonged experience of pain and suffering. Our previous results suggest changes in excitatory neurotransmitter levels, connectivity between multiple brain networks, and cortical thickness coincide within central neural loci related to pain perception and modulation in FM. Interestingly, modulation of cortical activity can be achieved noninvasively by a novel tool, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which has been reported to produce lasting therapeutic effects in chronic pain, especially FM. We propose to study the long-term effects of tDCS application on multiple levels of the central nervous system in FM patients. This project has significant clinical relevance and has the support of collaborators from University of Michigan and Harvard University

Key facts

Study ID
NCT01745003
Run by
University of Michigan
People needed
13
Starts
2012-03-01
Expected to finish
2013-09-01
Last updated by the study team
2017-11-24

Who can join

Age: 18 and older, up to 65. Sex: female. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

Where it is running

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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