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CompletedNCT03485131tDCSUpdated Apr 4, 2018

Transcranial Direct-current Stimulation (tDCS) in Treatment Refractory Auditory Hallucinations

An interventional study of Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) and Placebo in Auditory Hallucination and Schizophrenia, sponsored by Manhattan Psychiatric Center. Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-04-04.

Sponsored by Manhattan Psychiatric Center · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

From the registry’s dates

  • Primary completion was Jul 2017, 9 years 4 months ago, and no results have been posted to the registry.
  • Registered 1 year 11 months after the study started (first participant enrolled Apr 2014, registered Mar 2016).
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
27
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 65 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a 4 week therapeutic pilot study with a 4 week follow-up period involving inpatients with treatment resistant DSM-IV schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder diagnosis. Each eligible subject will receive either 20 minutes of active tDCS (transcranial direct-current stimulation) or sham stimulation twice a day on 5 consecutive weekdays for 4 weeks with a 4 week follow-up period.

Read the detailed description

The aim in this study is to conduct a pilot study on the efficacy of tDCS by assessing its efficacy in treatment refractory auditory verbal hallucinations in inpatients with chronic schizophrenia. Based on and expanding the findings by Brunelin et al. the hypothesis is that tDCS treatment with the cathode on the left temporal-parietal junction and the anode on the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex can reduce the severity of auditory verbal hallucinations in patients with treatment refractory schizophrenia. The impact of tDCS on other schizophrenia symptoms in secondary exploratory outcome analyses together with the examination of the durability of an ameliorating effect will also be investigated.

02

Conditions studied

  • Auditory Hallucination
  • Schizophrenia
03

In context

Hallucinations

136 studies on the registry are indexed under Hallucinations; 35 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 27 is below the median of 48 across 118 interventional studies indexed under Hallucinations.

Browse Hallucinations studies →

Lead sponsor

Manhattan Psychiatric Center is the lead sponsor of 9 studies on the registry; 1 is open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 65 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Inpatient adults (age 18-65 years) who meet diagnostic criteria for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM)
  • Auditory hallucinations without remission over 5 years (remission is defined as a period of 4 weeks without hallucinations) as documented in the patients' medical record
  • Failure to respond to two previous adequate antipsychotic trials with adequate duration and adequate dosage
  • Screening PANSS total rating of > 70
  • PANSS hallucinatory behavior item > 4
  • Capacity and willingness to sign
  • On a stable antipsychotic regimen 4 weeks prior to screening and for the duration of the trial
  • Normal hearing
  • If female and not infertile, must agree to use one of the following forms of for the duration of study participation: systemic hormonal treatment, an interuterine device (IUD) which was implanted at least 2 months prior to screening, or "double-barrier" contraception
  • Willing to wear the tDCS device.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Prior history of seizure, other than that induced by Electro Convulsive Therapy
  • Family history of seizures
  • Significant unstable medical condition
  • Pregnancy or women of childbearing capacity not using a medically accepted form of when engaged in sexual intercourse
  • Inability to provide
  • Actively suicidal and or showing violent behavior
  • Significant organic brain pathology by history and neurological examination, inclusive of history of head trauma, loss of consciousness for more than 5 minutes; intracranial metal implants, known structural brain lesion, devices that may be affected by transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) (pacemaker, medication pump, cochlear implant, implanted brain stimulator)
  • Active substance abuse
  • Increased intracranial pressure, unstable cardiovascular disease, sleep apnea
  • Individuals with a clinically defined neurological disorder
  • Frequent and persistent migraines
  • History of adverse reaction to neurostimulation or open skin wounds that would preclude safe placement of tDCS electrodes
  • Current use of medications known to lower seizure threshold (serotonergic or tricyclic antidepressants)
  • If pregnant or breast feeding at the time of screening
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(2)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Informed consent

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You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Triple (Participant, Investigator, Outcomes assessor)
Enrollment
27 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Transcranial direct-current stimulation

    Intervention of 2 mAmp Transcranial direct-current stimulation treatments given twice daily for 20 min each per day for 4 weeks on consecutive weekdays. Twice-daily sessions were separated by at least 3 hours (one in the AM and the other one in the PM)

    Device: Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS)

  • Sham comparator
    Sham tDCS

    Intervention of placebo stimulation with ranscranial direct-current stimulation(sham tDCS), the stimulation parameters were displayed, but after 40 seconds of real stimulation of 2 mAmp to simulate the tDCS induced skin sensation, only a small current pulse was delivered every 550 msec (110 mAmp over 15 msec) through the remainder of the 20-minute period

    Device: Placebo

Interventions

  • DeviceTranscranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS)

    Stimulation sessions will be conducted twice a day on 5 consecutive weekdays. The twice daily sessions will be separated by at least 3 hours (one in the morning and the other one in the PM). The duration of treatment will be 4 weeks

    Also known as: Active Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS)'

  • DevicePlacebo

    Placebo/sham stimulation: After 40 seconds of real stimulation of 2 mAmp to simulate the tDCS induced skin sensation, only a small current pulse is delivered every 550 msec (110 mAmp over 15 msec) through the remainder of the 20-minute period

    Also known as: Sham Transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS)

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Reduction on the severity of auditory verbal hallucinations

    Reduction of Auditory Hallucinations Rating Scale (AHRS (12) items)

    Time frame: 8 weeks

Secondary outcomes

  1. Impact of tDCS on other schizophrenia symptoms

    Reduction of scores in Positive and Negative Symptom Scale

    Time frame: 8 weeks

  2. Impact of tDCS on Clinical Global Impression

    Global Severity of Illness measure

    Time frame: 8 weeks

  3. Impact of tDCS on MATRICS

    MATRICS: Comprehensive assessment of cognitive functions

    Time frame: 8 weeks

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Manhattan Psychiatric Center
    New York, New York 10035, United States
08

References and documents

Publications

  • Nitsche MA, Boggio PS, Fregni F, Pascual-Leone A. Treatment of depression with transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS): a review. Exp Neurol. 2009 Sep;219(1):14-9. doi: 10.1016/j.expneurol.2009.03.038. Epub 2009 Apr 5. PubMed 19348793 ↗

Individual participant data

Plan to share: No

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 4, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT03485131
Lead sponsor
Manhattan Psychiatric Center
Responsible party
Jean-Pierre Lindenmayer (Director of Research, Manhattan Psychiatric Center) — Principal investigator
First posted
Apr 2, 2018
Start date
Apr 2014
Primary completion
Jul 2017
Completion
Mar 2018
Last update
Apr 4, 2018

Study contacts

Jean-Pierre Lindenmayer, MD
principal investigator · Manhattan Psychiatric Center

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
FDA-regulated drug
No
FDA-regulated device
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Mar 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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