An interventional study of Medtronic Summit RC+S or Percept RC in Spinal Cord Injuries, Nerve Injury and Pain, Postoperative, sponsored by University of California, San Francisco. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 22 Years to 80 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-07-31.
Sponsored by University of California, San Francisco · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment
Chronic pain affects 1 in 4 US adults, and many cases are resistant to almost any treatment. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) holds promise as a new option for patients suffering from treatment-resistant chronic pain, but traditional approaches target only brain regions involved in one aspect of the pain experience and provide continuous 24/7 brain stimulation which may lose effect over time. By developing new technology that targets multiple, complimentary brain regions in an adaptive fashion, the investigators will test a new therapy for chronic pain that has potential for better, more enduring analgesia.
A diverse array of chronic pain syndromes are refractory to almost all treatment but involve pathological activity in similar brain regions. This suggests therapeutic potential for deep brain stimulation (DBS) for refractory pain disorders, but despite early promise, long-term efficacy is lacking. Current DBS devices are limited in anatomical reach, targeting only a subset of the distinct brain regions known to be important. Further, DBS therapy is bluntly applied in an "open-loop," continuous fashion without regard to underlying physiology. As a result of these shortcomings, DBS for pain is often ineffective or shows diminished effect over time. Loss of therapeutic effect may be due to nervous system adaptation or a failure of stimulation to accommodate patient- specific dynamics of pain processing. DBS could be significantly improved by seeking individually optimized brain targets or by using neural biomarkers of pain to selectively control stimulation when it is needed ("closed-loop" DBS). Better brain targets would also address the different dimensions of pain such as somatosensory (location, intensity and duration), affective (mood and motivation) and cognitive (attention and memory). The main goal of this study is to test the feasibility of personalized targeting of brain regions that support multiple pain dimensions and to develop new technology for "closed-loop" DBS for pain. The study team will develop data-driven stimulation control algorithms to treat chronic pain using a novel device (Medtronic Summit RC+S or Percept RC) that allows longitudinal intracranial signal recording in an ambulatory setting. By building this technology in an implanted device, chronic pain DBS is tailored to each patient and will advance precision methods for DBS more generally.
Beginning with an inpatient trial period, subjects with various refractory chronic pain syndromes will undergo bilateral surgical implant of temporary electrodes in the thalamus, anterior cingulate, prefrontal cortex, insula and amygdala. These regions have been implicated in the multiple dimensions of pain. The goal of the trial period is to identify candidate biomarkers of pain and optimal stimulation parameters for each individual, and to select subjects who show likelihood to benefit from the trial. A subgroup of 6 such patients will then proceed to chronic implantation of up to 3 "optimal" brain regions for long-term recording and stimulation. The invstigators will first validate biomarkers of low- and high-pain states to define neural signals for pain prediction in individuals (Aim 1). The investigators will then use these pain biomarkers to develop personalized closed-loop algorithms for DBS and test the feasibility of performing closed-loop DBS for chronic pain in weekly blocks (Aim 2). Finally, the investigators will assess efficacy of closed-loop DBS algorithms against sham (placebo) in a double-blinded crossover trial (Aim 3) and measure mechanisms of DBS tolerance. Our main outcome measures will be a combination of pain, mood and functional scores together with quantitative sensory testing. Successful completion of this study would result in the first algorithms to predict real-time fluctuations in chronic pain states and development of a new therapy for currently untreatable diseases.
2,025 studies on the registry are indexed under Spinal Cord Injuries; 537 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 12 is below the median of 24 across 1,633 interventional studies indexed under Spinal Cord Injuries.
Browse Spinal Cord Injuries studies →University of California, San Francisco is the lead sponsor of 2,169 studies on the registry; 372 are open to participants now.
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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.
Clinical diagnosis of a chronic pain syndrome including
Exclusion Criteria:
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.
Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
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.
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.
Relapsed and refractory
Relapsed: the illness came back after treatment had worked. Refractory: it did not respond to treatment, or stopped responding while still on it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
MMSE and MoCA
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Immunosuppression
A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.
Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Life expectancy
The study doctor’s estimate of how long someone is likely to live. Criteria use it so that people can stay in the study long enough for it to answer its question.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Platelets
Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Hypersensitivity
An allergy, or another reaction of the immune system, to a substance. “Hypersensitivity to the study drug” means a known allergic reaction to it — not every side effect a medicine can have.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Chronic brain recordings and stimulation with bilateral implantations in pain-related brain regions. All participants will participate in active DBS, blinded to the participant.
Device: Medtronic Summit RC+S or Percept RC
Non-active chronic brain stimulation in pain-related brain regions. brain recordings will remain active during this period. All participants will participate in inactive DBS, blinded to the participant.
Device: Medtronic Summit RC+S or Percept RC
The investigators will perform DBS versus sham (randomized) to evaluate efficacy of stimulation for analgesia. Closed-loop DBS will be compared to open-loop DBS in a patient blinded, randomized fashion after initial, efficacy evaluation.
Feasibility of identifying personalized physiological biomarkers and an optimal stimulation site during the temporary (externalized) trial stage
Identifying biomarkers in machine learning models that exceed chance and stimulation sites that provide clinically meaningful reductions in chronic pain during a temporary brain stimulation and recording period in hospital
Time frame: 60 days
Feasibility of implementing individualized closed-loop DBS for chronic pain
Time frame: 2 years
Safety and Rate of Adverse Events
Quantifying the rate and category of all adverse events
Time frame: 2 years
Pain Numerical Rating Scale Improvement - Exploratory
Quantifying percent improvement and absolute improvement on Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) 0-10 scale of pain severity,
Time frame: 2 years
Pain Visual Analog Scale improvement - Exploratory
Quantifying percent improvement and absolute improvement on Visual Analog Scale (VAS) 0-100 scale of pain severity
Time frame: 2 years
McGill Pain Questionnaire Improvement - Exploratory
Quantifying percent improvement and absolute improvement on McGill Pain Questionnaire (short form - version 2)
Time frame: 2 years
Health related quality of life
Quantifying change in multiple quality-of-life measures with the short form 36, including physical, emotional, and pain-related sub-scores from baseline to long-term follow-up.
Time frame: 2 years
Becks Anxiety Inventory
The Becks Anxiety Inventory is commonly used assessment tools to quantify and track anxious mood state over time.Its a single value outcome measurement ranging from 0 to 63, with 63 the most anxious.
Time frame: 2 years
Becks Depression Inventory
The Becks Depression Inventory is commonly used assessment tools to quantify and track depression mood state over time. Its a single value outcome measurement ranging from 0 to 63, with 63 being the most depressed.
Time frame: 2 years
Activity Tracker (Fitbit) - Activity (Steps)
Each patient will be given a fitbit activity monitor which can record steps taken, flights of stairs climbed, heart rate and sleep quality. These measures will be used to infer functional improvement over time. Steps will be recorded as steps per hour or day and evaluated against changes in pain level reported in the VAS or NRS.
Time frame: 2 years
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