Long-Term Transcutaneous Stimulation and Essential Tremor: A PET Study

Running, not enrolling · Not applicable

Conditions studied: Essential Tremor

In brief

Essential tremor (ET) is the most common movement disorder in the United States and affects up to 5% of the population. ET patients experience involuntary shaking of the hands, head and/or voice that can range from mildly limiting to severely disabling. Treatment options are limited and there are currently no medications specifically designed to treat it, and medications that are prescribed to relieve tremors are often limited by either inadequate efficacy or intolerable side effects. A subset of essential tremor patients whose tremors are inadequately treated by medication choose to undergo deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the ventral intermediate thalamic nucleus. DBS has been shown to be highly effective for tremor suppression. However, DBS carries significant risks. As a result, a very small (less than 3%) percentage of essential tremor patients undergo DBS therapy. The medical technology company Cala Health has developed a wristband device (the Cala TWO) that offers individuals with essential tremor a novel non-pharmacological, non-invasive alternative, in the form of stimulation of peripheral nerves, to aid in hand tremor relief. This innovative form of therapy has the potential to have important health, quality of life, and economic benefits for essential tremor patients. The present pilot study (Aim 1) will assess the effectiveness of 3-month twice daily treatment with the Cala TWO device to aid in the relief of hand tremors in adult essential tremor subjects that have been approved to undergo deep brain stimulation surgery at Mayo Clinic - Rochester. This study is a prospective, within subject, non-significant risk study at Mayo Clinic - Rochester, enrolling approximately 20 subjects. A completely optional component of this study (Aim 2) is seeking to perform three standard PET/CT sessions on a subset of these subjects (n=10) at Mayo Clinic - Rochester to evaluate changes in brain metabolic activity as a result of 3 months treatment with the device. The first session would take place upon a subjects entry into the study (start of month 1) and prior to any treatment with the Cala device, a second the following day after a 40 minute treatment period with the Cala device, and a third session at the end of the third month. This study is a prospective, within subject, greater than minimum risk study.

Key facts

Study ID: NCT03778060
Run by: Mayo Clinic
People needed: 20
Starts: 2019-02-11
Expected to finish: 2026-12-01
Last updated by the study team: 2026-01-30

Who can join

Age: 21 and older, up to 70. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

Prospective subjects must meet all of the following criteria to be eligible for study participation:
Must be greater than or equal to 21 years of age. Must be approved for DBS surgery at Mayo Clinic for treatment of essential tremor.
Competent and willing to provide signed, informed consent to participate in the study.
Stable dose of tremor medications, if applicable, for 30 days prior to study entry.
Stable dose of antidepressant medications, if applicable, for 90 days prior to study entry.
Willing to comply with study protocol requirements including: remaining on a stable dosage of tremor and antidepressant medications, if applicable, during the duration of the study; no significant alcohol or caffeine consumption within 8 hours of study visits; no usage of the Cala TWO device within 8 hours of study visits.

You may not qualify if…

Prospective subjects that meet any of the following criteria are not eligible for enrollment in this study:
Moderate to severe ethanol dependence as defined by the criteria outlined in the DSM-5 (score of 4 or higher).
Implanted electrical medical device, such as a pacemaker, defibrillator, or deep brain stimulator.
Previous thalamotomy procedure, including stereotactic thalamotomy, gamma knife radiosurgical thalamotomy, and focused ultrasound for the treatment of tremor.
Suspected or diagnosed epilepsy or other seizure disorder. Swollen, infected, inflamed areas, or skin eruptions, open wounds, or cancerous lesions of skin at stimulation site (wrist).
Peripheral neuropathy affecting the tested upper extremity. Presence of any other neurodegenerative disease like Parkinson plus syndromes suspected on neurological examination. These include: multisystem atrophy, progressive supranuclear palsy, dementia with Lewy bodies, and Alzheimer's disease.
Anyone suspected to have the diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD). This includes excluding anyone with the presence of parkinsonian features including bradykinesia rigidity, or postural instability. Subjects that exhibit only mild resting tremor but no other symptoms or signs of PD may be included.
Botulinum toxin injection for hand tremor within 6 months prior to study enrollment.
Are participating or have participated in another interventional clinical trial in the last 30 days which may confound the results of this study, unless approved by the Principal Investigator.
Significant alcohol or caffeine consumption within 8 hours of study enrollment, which may confound the results of the study, where significant caffeine is considered more than 95 mg (equivalent to a cup of coffee), and significant alcohol is considered more than 14 g (equivalent to 5 oz of wine, 12 oz of beer, or 1.5 oz of distilled spirits).
Subjects unable to communicate with the investigator and staff. Any health condition that in the investigator's opinion should preclude participation in this study.
Pregnancy or anticipated pregnancy during the course of the study.

Where it is running

Mayo Clinic in Rochester — Rochester, Minnesota, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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