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CompletedNCT04770337Updated Apr 8, 2026

Pivotal-Safety and Therapeutic Measures of tDCS in Patients With Refractory Focal Epilepsy

An interventional study of STARSTIM device and Sham Device in Refractory Epilepsy, Focal Seizure and Seizures, Focal, sponsored by Neuroelectrics Corporation. Completed at 32 sites in 4 countries. Open to participants aged 9 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-08.

Sponsored by Neuroelectrics Corporation · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
127
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
9 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This is a multiple site, randomized, double blinded parallel-group controlled study. The purpose of this study is to evaluate efficacy, safety, and tolerability of repeated, daily sessions with the STARSTIM device, which delivers transcranial cathodal direct current stimulation (tDCS). Subjects will be treated with STARTSTIM or sham device for 10 sessions over a 2-week period. The subjects will be followed for an additional 10 weeks post treatment. Quality of Life questionnaires and adverse events will be collected and evaluated.

Read the detailed description

Study design is an evaluation of the STARSTIM device (tDCS) in subjects over 9 years of age, diagnosed with epilepsy with focal seizures with or without focal to bilateral tonic clonic seizures. Seizure diaries will be collected for 12 weeks to establish a rate of seizure for each subject prior to treatment. Subjects will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive an active STARSTIM treatment or a sham treatment. Neither the study investigator nor subject shall be notified of the treatment assignment. Treatment will be done daily at the investigator's site for 10 days. A Seizure Diary will be maintained through the course of the treatment and the follow up period. Subjects will have 3 follow up visits to evaluate their seizure rate, adverse events, medications and quality of life. A Data Safety Monitoring Board will be utilized to evaluate safety events through study milestones. Seizure frequency rates pre, during and post treatment will be evaluated for both the active and sham treatment arms.

02

Conditions studied

  • Refractory Epilepsy
  • Focal Seizure
  • Seizures, Focal
  • Seizures
  • Epilepsy in Children
  • Epilepsy
  • Epilepsy, Tonic-Clonic

Keywords

  • Epilepsy
  • Focal seizure
  • Seizure
03

In context

Drug Resistant Epilepsy

261 studies on the registry are indexed under Drug Resistant Epilepsy; 99 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 127 is above the median of 30 across 208 interventional studies indexed under Drug Resistant Epilepsy.

Browse Drug Resistant Epilepsy studies →

Lead sponsor

Neuroelectrics Corporation is the lead sponsor of 3 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

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

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
9 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
No

Inclusion criteria

  1. 9 years old or older.
  2. Diagnosis of epilepsy with focal seizures with or without focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures (International League Against Epilepsy classification). Diagnosis established by both clinical history and an EEG consistent with focal seizures.

    Note: A normal interictal EEG is consistent with focal seizures, if other data is adequate to provide localization.

  3. Epilepsy is refractory to treatment, defined as: failure to achieve adequate seizure control despite demonstrated compliance, according to medical records, on at least two (2) FDA-approved ASDs at a daily dose considered therapeutic for the patient's demographic according to package labeling, within approximately the last 3 years.
  4. Seizure frequency average of ≥3 per month, over the past year.
  5. Currently on at least 1 ASDs with no changes in antiepileptic drug doses in the 3 weeks prior to baseline visit in the study and no planned dose changes during the trial. Changes after baseline visit are permitted only if clinically necessary.
  6. An MRI scan of the brain using a 1.5 Tesla magnet, or greater, with T1, T2 (recommended), and FLAIR sequences, acquired within the last 3 years for children (patients \<18 years old), or within 5 years for adult patients ≥18 years old, as long as the MRI was obtained after the onset of epilepsy and without brain surgeries after the MRI images.
  7. Seizure focus that allows design of an appropriate stimulation montage. Note: Seizure focus can be identified within a lobe, or 2 adjacent lobes. Identification of the border of the seizure focus can be approximate (+/- 2 gyri).
  8. Available seizure history and supporting data
  9. All female study subjects of childbearing age are required to have a pregnancy test. Additionally, all females of childbearing potential will be required to use an effective method of birth control (defined as having a documented failure rate of \<=1%; for women using enzyme-inducing ASDs hormonal contraceptives will not be considered as effective).
  10. Written informed consent obtained from study patient or patient's legal representative and ability for study patient to comply with the requirements of the study.
  11. Assent from pediatric patients when appropriate.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. Presence of a condition or abnormality that in the opinion of the Investigator would compromise the safety of the patient or the integrity of the data.
  2. Evidence for more than one seizure focus. (NOTE: For this study, a seizure focus is defined as a cortical region confined to one hemisphere and either one lobe or on a junction of two adjacent lobes from which seizures arise, as documented by scalp or intracranial EEG, that is either supported or not refuted by MRI, and either supported or not refuted by clinical semiology). If the interictal EEG is normal, a seizure focus may be identified by the combination of structural findings on MRI and clinical signs/symptoms associated with the patient's seizures.
  3. Seizure focus is one of: interhemispheric, cingulate, or orbitofrontal
  4. Seizure focus is hemispheric or poorly defined
  5. History of psychogenic non-epileptic seizures in past 2 years, or physiologic nonepileptic seizures and non-epileptogenic events, including suspicion for or a significant history of syncope, and any non-epileptic events must be clearly differentiable from patient's focal seizures based on previously recorded video EEG showing distinct clinical and electrographic features of the patient's psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) compared to their epileptic seizures.
  6. Seizures of generalized onset
  7. Status epilepticus in the last 12 months
  8. Presence of any disease, medical condition or physical condition that, in the opinion of the Investigator, may compromise interfere, limit, affect or reduce the patient's ability to complete a study duration of 28 weeks (4 weeks screening, 12 weeks baseline, 2 weeks tDCS, 10 weeks follow-up).
  9. Presence of any disease, medical condition or physical condition that, in the opinion of the Investigator, may adversely impact the safety of the patient or the integrity of the data.
  10. Damaged skin on scalp that may interfere with tDCS stimulation.
  11. Pregnant or unwilling to practice birth control during participation in the study.
  12. Nursing mothers.
  13. Any cranial metal implants (excluding ≦1 mm thick epicranial titanium skull plates and dental fillings) or medical devices (i.e., cardiac pacemaker, deep brain stimulator, medication infusion pump, cochlear implant). Note: Vagus nerve stimulator (VNS) is allowable if the device is in MR Mode (e.g., switched off) during tDCS stimulation and the VNS device is MR conditional.
  14. Previous surgeries opening the skull leaving skull defects capable of allowing the insertion of a cylinder with a radius greater or equal to 5 mm.
  15. Substance use disorder (including alcohol) according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, 5th edition (DSM-V) criteria in the past 3 years.
  16. Participation in an interventional clinical trial within 30 days prior to screening.
  17. Patient's head circumference > 64 cm
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
Double (Participant, Investigator)
Enrollment
127 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Sham comparator
    Sham treatment

    Subjects will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive an active STARSTIM treatment or a sham treatment.

    Device: Sham Device

  • Experimental
    STARSTIM device treatment

    Subjects will be randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive an active STARSTIM treatment or a sham treatment.

    Device: STARSTIM device

Interventions

  • DeviceSTARSTIM device

    Cathodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a form of neurostimulation which uses constant, low current delivered to the brain area of interest via electrodes on the scalp.

  • DeviceSham Device

    Intervention which uses enough currents to generate a sensory feedback similar to that of active stimulation via electrodes on the scalp

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. The difference between active treatment and sham treatment in the percentage change

    Time frame: from baseline in seizures over the 12 weeks following initiation of treatment.

Secondary outcomes

  1. The proportion of subjects who are responders (defined as subjects with a 50% or greater reduction in seizure frequency

    Time frame: from baseline to week 12 post-treatment

07

Study locations

32 sites
  • Barrow Neurological Institute, St. Joseph's Hospital & Medical Center
    Phoenix, Arizona 85013, United States
  • Loma Linda University Health
    Loma Linda, California 92354, United States
  • Keck Medicine of USC
    Los Angeles, California 90033, United States
  • Children's Hospital of Orange County
    Orange, California 92868, United States
  • University of Florida Jacksonville
    Jacksonville, Florida 32209, United States
  • Southern Illinois University School of Medicine
    Springfield, Illinois 62702, United States
  • Sinai Hospital
    Baltimore, Maryland 21215, United States
  • Johns Hopkins University
    Baltimore, Maryland 21287, United States
  • Boston Children's Hospital Comprehensive Epilepsy Center
    Boston, Massachusetts 02115, United States
  • Beth Israel Deconess Medical Center
    Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States
  • Mayo Clinic
    Rochester, Minnesota 55905, United States
  • Washington University Medical Center
    St Louis, Missouri 63110, United States
  • Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (Rutgers)
    New Brunswick, New Jersey 08901, United States
  • University of Rochester
    Rochester, New York 14642, United States
  • University of Pennsylvania (Penn Epilepsy)
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, United States
  • Vanderbilt University Medical Center
    Nashville, Tennessee 37212, United States
  • University Of Utah
    Salt Lake City, Utah 84132, United States
  • Seattle Children's Hospital, University of Washington
    Seattle, Washington 98105, United States
  • Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc
    Brussels, Belgium
  • Ghent University Hospital
    Ghent, Belgium
  • Hospices Civils De Lyon
    Lyon, France
  • CHU de Marseille - Hôpital de la Timone
    Marseille, France
  • Hospital Universitario Albacete
    Albacete, Spain
  • HM Nou Delfos
    Barcelona, Spain
  • Hospital Clínic
    Barcelona, Spain
  • Hospital Del Mar
    Barcelona, Spain
  • Hospital Sant Joan de Déu
    Barcelona, Spain
  • Hospital Universitari Vall d'Hebron
    Barcelona, Spain
  • Hospital Niño Jesús
    Madrid, Spain
  • Hospital Ruber Internacional
    Madrid, Spain
  • Hospital Universitario Regional de Málaga
    Málaga, Spain
  • Centro de Neurología Avanzada
    Seville, Spain
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Undecided

No publications or documents are linked to this record.

09

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 8, 2026, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT04770337
Lead sponsor
Neuroelectrics Corporation
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Feb 25, 2021
Start date
Oct 25, 2021
Primary completion
Jan 12, 2026
Completion
Jan 12, 2026
Last update
Apr 8, 2026

Oversight

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

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This study is completed, as verified in Apr 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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