An interventional study of placebo in Spinal Cord Injuries, Polytrauma and Burns, sponsored by Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital. Active, not recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2025-10-27.
Sponsored by Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital · Not applicable, Interventional, and Supportive care
The use of the conditioning open-label placebo (COLP) paradigm will be studied as a dose extension method to lower opioid dosage in patients with spinal cord injury, polytrauma, and burn injury. The goal is to provide the same level of pain relief with a reduced opioid intake to diminish side effects as well as the risk of addiction associated with opioid treatment.
The study is a randomized controlled trial (RCT) parallel-group, assessor blind with one experimental arm, the conditioning open-label placebo (COLP), and one control group following the regular regimen, treatment as usual (TAU).
Tools for assessment: Morphine Equivalent Dose Conversion (MEDC); Pain Pressure Threshold (PPT); Modified Brief Pain Inventory (BPI); PROMIS Pain-Related Measures (PROMIS); Numerical Opioid Side Effects (NOSE); Treatment satisfaction questionnaire for medication (TSQM) and Treatment expectation questionnaire (TEX-Q); Measurements of anxiety, depression - Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD7) and Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ9). Recording of medication changes and side effects. Reported visual analog scale (VAS) for pain assessed by the nursing team and recorded at the electronic medical record (EMR); finally, the qualitative exit interview.
Neurophysiological and metabolomic phenotyping, using the following measures, Quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG) for quantitative assessment (EEG), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), and metabolomics assessment.
Following enrollment, subjects will be randomized to receive COLP treatment or a standard of care opioid dosage. The study team will perform baseline assessments, and subjects in the COLP group will undergo three consecutive days of prescribed - as needed - pro re nata (PRN) opioid 100% dose + opioid conditioning paired with taste and odorous placebos (pill and smell).
Afterward, subjects will receive a 50% dose + COLP for three days. The nursing team will alternate the active opioid medication with total placebo dosages to decrease the therapeutic opioid dose by 50%.
Voluntary COLP continuation: After the participants have completed the experimental intervention (day 6), all outcomes have been collected (pre and post-measurements). Patients randomized to the COLP group will be asked to continue the COLP intervention during hospitalization if the participant agrees to continue using COLP. We will re-evaluate the following variables: MEDC, PPT, BPI, PROMIS pain, TSQM, and NOSE once COLP is discontinued (e.g., in case of increased pain and opioid utilization or if the patient is being discharged and transferred to another facility).
For subjects allocated in the control group (treatment-as-usual), the customary treatment routine will follow the standard of care for patients suffering from mild to moderate pain, including all pharmacological agents (NSAIDs, narcotics, and combos) used for pain management. The study team will record total narcotic dosages at the beginning and end of the trial.
2,025 studies on the registry are indexed under Spinal Cord Injuries; 537 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 66 is above the median of 24 across 1,633 interventional studies indexed under Spinal Cord Injuries.
Browse Spinal Cord Injuries studies →Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital is the lead sponsor of 117 studies on the registry; 27 are open to participants now.
Of its 20 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 17 (85%) have results posted.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Days 1 to 3 will include the acquisition phase where the opioid medication will be prescribed on a schedule of 3-4 times per day and paired with an open-label placebo. Day 4 and 6 will be the evoked phase, and patients will receive only the open-label placebo pill. On day 5 the opioid medication will be re-introduced as pharmacological reinforcement.
Other: placebo
Patients in the standard of care group will receive their analgesic treatment through Spaulding Pharmacy as prescribed by their treating physicians. The treatment regime will include an opioid medication at the standard recommended dosage. Participants in this group will receive the treatment orally for 6 consecutive days.
Sugar pill, with an essential-oil smell and of blue color used for conditioning.
Also known as: open-label placebo
Morphine Equivalent Dose Conversion (MEDC)
The opioid morphine equivalent conversion factor is used to standardized opioid usage having as a reference morphine as main indicator for analgesic potency.
Time frame: 6 days
Modified Brief Pain Inventory (BPI)
The BPI is a short self-assessment questionnaire that provides information on various dimensions of pain including how pain developed, the types of pain a patient experiences, and time of day pain is experienced, as well as current ways of alleviating pain. Worst Pain Score: 1 - 4 = Mild Pain Worst Pain Score: 5 - 6 = Moderate Pain Worst Pain Score: 7 - 10 = Severe Pain
Time frame: 6 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks.
Numerical Opioid Side Effects (NOSE)
The Numerical Opioid Side Effect (NOSE) assessment tool is a simple, rapid, self-administered instrument which has the potential to be utilized in a busy pain clinic setting in efforts to document and longitudinally follow trends of opioid adverse effects. Each item is 0 to 10, zero being no side effects (better outcome) and 10 worst outcome.
Time frame: 6 days
PROMIS Pain Behavior
The PROMIS Pain Behavior item banks measure self-reported external manifestations of pain: behaviors that typically indicate to others that an individual is experiencing pain. These actions or reactions can be verbal or nonverbal, and involuntary or deliberate.
Time frame: 6 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks.
PROMIS Pain Interference
The PROMIS Pain Interference item banks assess self-reported consequences of pain on relevant aspects of one's life. This includes the extent to which pain hinders engagement with social, cognitive, emotional, physical, and recreational activities. Pain Interference also incorporates items probing sleep and enjoyment in life, though the item bank only contains one sleep item. The pain interference short forms are universal rather than disease specific. All assess pain interference over the past seven days
Time frame: 6 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks.
Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9)
The PHQ-9 components of the longer Patient Health Questionnaire offer psychologists concise, self-administered tools for assessing depression. They incorporate the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual 4th Edition (DSM-IV) depression criteria with other leading major depressive symptoms into a brief self-report instruments that are commonly used for screening and diagnosis, as well as selecting and monitoring treatment.
Time frame: 6 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder questionnaire 7 (GAD-7)
The Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7 (GAD-7) is a 7-item instrument used to briefly measure or assess one of the most common mental disorders.
Time frame: 6 days, 3 weeks, 6 weeks.
TEX-Q
TEX-Q, a scale for generically and multidimensionally measuring expectations of medical or psychological treatments. Its fully generic nature enables the comparability of assessments across different treatments and conditions.
Time frame: 6 days
TSQM-9
The TSQM is a 14-item psychometrically robust and validated instrument consisting of four scales.The four scales of the TSQM include the effectiveness scale, the side effects scale, the convenience scale, and the global satisfaction scale.
Time frame: 6 days
Quantitative electroencephalography (qEEG)
stands out as a valuable, non-invasive tool because it provides reliable and relevant information about brain functioning during rest, sensory stimulation and cognitive tasks. In addition, this technique is safe, low-cost, and employs an easy methodology, thus making it an appropriate tool for use in clinical practice. qEEG at rest and during pain processing event-related potentials (ERP's) at the patient's bed side. The qEEG and ERP's recordings will be processed for analytical purposes, standard EEG metrics will be explored (e.g. spectral analysis, connectivity, source localization), while ERP's will provide information related to pain and values of valence and arousal.
Time frame: 6 days
Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS)
This method is based on near-infrared light absorption fluctuations that depend on concentration changes of the chromophores O2Hb and HHb in the tissue under investigation. We will use it to investigate cerebral metabolism of oxygenated (O2Hb), deoxygenated (HHb) and total hemoglobin (tHb) during pain processing ERP's. Changes in tHb, defined as the sum of the changes in O2Hb and HHb, can be used as a measure of blood volume changes. fNIRS can provide the equivalent of cortical blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal, like functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
Time frame: 6 days
Qualitative Exit Interview
The main purpose of the exit interview is to explore individual experiences to describe how patients with pain conceive the effects of the experimental interventions (COLP/TAU).
Time frame: 1 day
Metabolite assessment of 3-Methyl Xanthine
Serum level of metabolite in (ng/mL).
Time frame: 6 days
Metabolite assessment of Serotonin
Serum level of metabolite in (ng/mL).
Time frame: 6 days
Metabolite assessment of Uric acid
Serum level of metabolite in (ug/mL).
Time frame: 6 days
Metabolite assessment of Tyrosine
Serum level of metabolite in (ug/mL).
Time frame: 6 days
Metabolite assessment of Kynurenine
Serum level of metabolite in (ng/mL).
Time frame: 6 days
Metabolite assessment of Indole-3-Lactic acid
Serum level of metabolite in (ng/mL).
Time frame: 6 days
Metabolite assessment of Indole-3-Propionic acid
Serum level of metabolite in (ng/mL).
Time frame: 6 days
Metabolite assessment of Indole-3-Acetic acid
Serum level of metabolite in (ng/mL).
Time frame: 6 days
Metabolite assessment of Tryptophan
Serum level of metabolite in (ug/mL).
Time frame: 6 days
Metabolite assessment of Total indoxyl sulfate
Serum level of metabolite in (ug/mL).
Time frame: 6 days
Pain Pressure Threshold (PPT)
Pain pressure threshold (PPT) is used to measure deep muscular tissue sensitivity. The test determines the amount of pressure over a given area in which a steadily increasing nonpainful pressure stimulus turns into a painful pressure sensation \[19\]. A varying pressure is applied from 0.5 to 1 kg/sec in a perpendicular direction relative to the muscle. PPT has been used on a wide variety of patients and conditions, including musculoskeletal and neuromuscular disorders (e.g., Parkinson disease, tension headaches, pelvic pain, low back pain, myofascial trigger points, knee osteoarthritis, shoulder pain). PPT is a quick, objective measure used to quantify pain intensity
Time frame: 6 days
Plan to share: No
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