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CompletedNCT05057754Updated Sep 28, 2023

Sonographic Measurement of Intraneural Blood Flow in the Median Nerve

An interventional study of Cooling and Heating in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Median Nerve Injury, sponsored by University of Southern California. Completed at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2023-09-28.

Sponsored by University of Southern California · Not applicable, Interventional, and Basic science

Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
20
Allocation
Not applicable
Ages
18 Years to 65 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common nerve compression disease and the most expensive upper-extremity work-related musculoskeletal disorder, affecting approximately 10 million people in the US. To understand the clear etiology and mechanism of carpal tunnel syndrome, the measurement of median nerve intraneural blood flow needs to be further scrutinized as the common fluctuating physiological conditions and functional hand activities might contribute to the fluctuation of the measurement and serve as measurement error. This study aims to examine how intraneural blood flow within the median nerve is affected by physiological factors (i.e., body temperature and blood pressure) and functional hand activities (i.e., typing, using a mouse, and cooking).

02

Conditions studied

  • Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
  • Median Nerve Injury

Keywords

  • intraneural blood flow
03

In context

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

589 studies on the registry are indexed under Carpal Tunnel Syndrome; 139 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 20 is below the median of 60 across 445 interventional studies indexed under Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Browse Carpal Tunnel Syndrome studies →

Lead sponsor

University of Southern California is the lead sponsor of 773 studies on the registry; 135 are open to participants now.

Of its 68 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 32 (47%) have results posted.

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
Yes

Inclusion criteria

  • Aged 18 to 65
  • English-speaking
  • Ability to endure a moderate-intensity physical activity
  • Ability to type without looking at the keyboard

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Pain, tingling, or numbness in the hand or wrist region within the past week
  • History of corticoid injection in the upper extremity
  • History of surgery in the wrist region
  • Carpal tunnel syndrome
  • Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • Diabetes
  • Hypothyroidism
  • Pregnant
  • Positive Phalen's test
  • Persistent median artery within wrist region
  • Bifid median nerve
05

Study design

Phase
Not applicable
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Not applicable
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
20 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Experimental Group

    A total of 50 participants are estimated to be recruited, each completing six conditions in the following order: 1) wrist cooling, 2) wrist heating, 3) exercising, 4) typing, 5) using a mouse, 6) cooking, with an observation of intraneural blood flow assessed with Doppler sonography before and after each condition.

    Behavioral: Cooling · Behavioral: Heating · Behavioral: Exercising · Behavioral: Typing · Behavioral: Using a mouse · Behavioral: Cooking

Interventions

  • BehavioralCooling

    Participants' dominant hand and wrist will be immersed in cool water (20°C) for five minutes. The cool water will be kept to around 20°C (19 - 21°C) by frequently checking the temperature and corrected when it rises to 20.5°C

  • BehavioralHeating

    A heat pack wrapped in a towel will be applied to participants' dominant hand for five minutes.

  • BehavioralExercising

    Participants will be asked to participate in moderate-intensity physical activities to induce an increase in blood pressure. The physical activity will be two sets of 30 jumping jacks, followed by 15 squats. Participants are allowed to rest for 20 seconds between the two sets.

  • BehavioralTyping

    All participants will be asked to perform a typing task with a standard wired keyboard. All subjects will be asked to type for five minutes.

  • BehavioralUsing a mouse

    Participants will be asked to draw as many lower-case alphabet characters from "a" to "z" as possible using a standardized scroll mouse for five minutes in the Windows Microsoft Paint software.

  • BehavioralCooking

    Participants will be asked to participate in a cooking trial following a prespecified cooking recipe of Rice Krispy Treat. he participant will be asked to follow the procedures as follows: (1) cut and put wax paper in the pan; (2) cut butter into 4 pieces; (3) place butter in a pot over a portable stove and stir until the butter is completely melted; (4) add four oz of marshmallows and stir until melted; (5) add cereal and the rest of marshmallows and stir until all ingredients are combined (6) transfer the ingredients to the pan and use a silicone spatula to pat the ingredients evenly into pan.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Change in intraneural blood flow after intervention

    Doppler ultrasound images will be repeatedly collected to obtain the primary outcome measure for this study, intraneural blood flow. After identifying the course of the median nerve in the longitudinal plane (I.e., the sagittal plane), intraneural blood flow at the level of carpal tunnel measured as the peak systolic velocity of the identified blood flow signal will be observed and collected.

    Time frame: Immediately prior to and after each intervention

07

Study locations

2 sites
  • USC; Musculoskeletal Sonography & Occupational Performance Laboratory
    Los Angeles, California 90033, United States
  • Ohio State University; School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences
    Columbus, Ohio 43210, United States
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Sep 28, 2023, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05057754
Lead sponsor
University of Southern California
Responsible party
Shawn Roll (Associate Professor, University of Southern California) — Principal investigator
First posted
Sep 27, 2021
Start date
Dec 13, 2021
Primary completion
May 30, 2022
Completion
May 30, 2022
Last update
Sep 28, 2023

Study contacts

Shawn C Roll, PhD
study director · University of Southern California

Oversight

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

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This study is completed, as verified in Sep 2023. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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