Respiratory Event-Related Potentials in Patients With Spinal Cord Injury
Stopped early
Conditions studied: Spinal Cord Injury
In brief
Dyspnea is "a subjective experience of breathing discomfort that consists of qualitatively distinct sensations that vary in intensity". It is known that sensory information from the respiratory system activates regions of the cerebral cortex to produce the perception of dyspnea but far less is known about the neurophysiology of dyspnea than about vision, hearing, or even pain. Dyspnea likely arises from multiple nervous system sources, but the exact locations have not been well identified. Investigations of the mechanisms underlying respiratory sensations have included studies of airway anesthesia, chest wall strapping, exercise, heart-lung transplantation, hyperventilation, and opioid use. Study of the perception of breathing sensations in individuals with a spinal cord injury presents additional opportunity. The goal of the proposed project is to examine the effects of increasingly severe levels of spinal cord injury on the perception of breathing sensations in participants who are able to breathe without the use of a ventilator. The investigators hypothesize that the perception of breathing varies with the extent of somatosensory information that reaches cerebral cortex.
Key facts
- Study ID
- NCT02163551
- Run by
- University of North Carolina, Charlotte
- People needed
- 14
- Starts
- 2014-06-01
- Expected to finish
- 2016-11-01
- Last updated by the study team
- 2017-10-30
Who can join
Age: 30 and older, up to 60. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: accepted.
You may qualify if…
- Participants with spinal cord injury (n = 20) will be age 30-60 years with motor complete spinal cord injuries, otherwise known as American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) classification A or B, between the levels of C3 and T12. Subjects will be divided equally into four different injury level categories. The four categories are high tetraplegia (C3 - C5), low tetraplegia (C6-C8), high paraplegia (T1-T6), and low paraplegia (T7-T12). Twenty healthy age-matched adults will also participate.
You may not qualify if…
- History or presence of lung disease (asthma, chronic bronchitis, etc)
- Current smoker (more than one cigarette per day the past year)
- History of traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, or seizure; using psychotropic medication of any type
- And, if patient, more than six months since spinal cord injury and clinically stable.
Where it is running
- Spinal Cord Injury Medicine, Carolinas Rehabilitation — Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
- UNC Charlotte — Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov
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