ClinicalTrials.gg
Status unknownNCT05622552Updated Nov 18, 2022

Effect of tDCS Combined With Pharmacological Treatments for Bipolar Mania

An interventional study of active group of tDCS and sham group of tDCS in Manic Episode, sponsored by Dongbin Lyu. Status unknown at 1 site in China. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2022-11-18.

Sponsored by Dongbin Lyu · Not applicable, Interventional, and Treatment

The sponsor has not verified this record recently (last verified Nov 2022), so the status shown — last known as Recruiting — may be out of date.
Phase
Not applicable
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
70
Allocation
Randomized
Ages
18 Years to 65 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to conduct a randomized double-blind controlled trial to explore the efficacy and safety of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in the treatment of manic episode (ME) and analyzes the brain functional connectivity to construct the therapeutic effect prediction model of tDCS for ME.

The main questions it aims to answer are:

  • A randomized double-blind controlled trial is conducted to clarify the efficacy and safety of tDCS combined with pharmacological treatments in the ME.
  • A therapeutic effect prediction model of tDCS for ME by using functional near-infrared spectroscopy to evaluate brain function.

Participants will be receive:

  • clinical data interview and clinical symptom assessment.
  • the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to analysis brain functional connectivity.
  • tDCS stimulation, which was performed once a day sessions of active or sham anodal tDCS to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and Cathode to the left OFC (2 mA, 20 minutes, 10 sessions).

In the active group, current stimulations were gradually ramped up to 2 mA (in 30 seconds) intensity for 20 minutes, once a day, for 10 days. For sham stimulation, the procedure was identical, except that the current was gradually ramped up to 2mA and rapidly down to zero (in 30 seconds), thus leading to the same initial sensations of tDCS.

Read the detailed description

Manic Episode (ME) is a form of bipolar disorder, characterized by a distinct period of abnormally and persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood and abnormally and persistently increased goal-directed activity or energy, lasting at least 1 week and present most of the day, nearly every day (or any duration if hospitalization is necessary). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), which uses weak current to stimulate specific brain areas, is a non-invasion neuromodulation.

This study intends to conduct a randomized double-blind controlled trial to explore the efficacy and safety of right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex stimulation (R-DLPFC) in the treatment of ME. In addition, the brain functional connectivity was analyzed by machine learning analysis based on the brain function detection data, and the therapeutic effect prediction model of tDCS for ME was constructed to provide a basis for the precise navigation and individualized treatment of ME by tDCS.

70 patients with manic episode diagnosed by the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV, Axis I Disorders, Patient Version (SCID-I/P) were recruited from the Shanghai Mental Health Center. Written, informed and competent consent was obtained before their participation in the study and a structured interview would be completed.

After strict inclusion and exclusion criteria for participants, clinical data interview and clinical symptom assessment will be conducted by a trained psychiatrists at the Shanghai Mental Health Center. And the functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) would be used to analysis brain functional connectivity at the baseline and the end of the 10 seesions. The study would randomize all participants in a 1:1 ratio, one was "active group", and the other was "sham group". The anode of tDCS was placed over right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (R-DLPFC) and the cathode to the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). In the active group, current stimulations were gradually ramped up to 2 mA (in 30 seconds) intensity for 20 minutes, once a day, for 10 days. For sham stimulation, the procedure was identical, except that the current was gradually ramped up to 2mA and rapidly down to zero (in 30 seconds), thus leading to the same initial sensations of tDCS. The study was 8 weeks long, and procedure of visit would be occurred at the following time points: baseline, week 2, 4 and 8.At each visit, psychometric outcome measures including the Young Manic Rating Scale (YMRS), Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology (QIDS SR-16), Altman Self-Rating Mania Scale (ASRM), Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), Stroop Color Word Test, Morisky Medication Adherence Scale-8 (MMAS-8), Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF).The reduction in YMRS after 10 sessions of tDCS was the primary outcome.

The study will require active reporting of adverse effects from the participants, as well as reports from observations of researchers.

02

Conditions studied

  • Manic Episode

Browse trials for

Keywords

  • manic episode
  • Transcranial direct current stimulation
  • tDCS
  • Functional near-infrared spectroscopy
  • fNIRS
03

In context

Mania

166 studies on the registry are indexed under Mania; 13 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 70 is below the median of 89 across 138 interventional studies indexed under Mania.

Browse Mania studies →

Lead sponsor

This is the only study on the registry with Dongbin Lyu as lead sponsor.

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

    1. Manic episode in patient with bipolar disorder, as assessed by the Structured Clinical Interview for , Axis I Disorders, Patient Version (SCID-I/P).
    1. Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) score above or equal 13.
    1. Patients of both genders between 18 and 65 years of age (when obtaining ) ,right-handed.
    1. Junior high school education and above, with understanding of the content of the study.
    1. Written, informed and competent consent was obtained before participation in the study.
    1. The regimens and dosages of mood stabilizers and atypical antipsychotics remained stable from the start of tDCS to the completion of 10 tDCS sessions. One mood stabilizer and/or one atypical antipsychotics could be administered, and no new or discontinued drugs were added
    1. Did not receive other trials of neurostimulation treatments (include tCS, rTMS, MECT.etc) and psychotherapies 1 month before tDCS treatment to 2 weeks after the end of treatment.
    1. Benzodiazepines and antidepressants were not used from 1 month before tDCS treatment to 2 weeks after the end of treatment.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

    1. Laboratory abnormalities that are judged to be and that clinicians consider to affect the efficacy of the trial or the safety of the subjects.
    1. With severe or unstable diseases, including: Patients with neurological diseases (delirium, dementia, stroke, epilepsy, migraine, high intracranial pressure, craniocerebral surgery, etc.), congestive heart failure, angina pectoris, myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, hypertension (including untreated or uncontrolled hypertension), apnea syndrome, malignant tumors, subjects, acute or chronic liver and kidney failure, cirrhosis or active liver disease, Or blood glucose higher than 12mmol/L.
  • 3.Alcohol or drug dependence within 6 months before the trial.
  • 4.Pregnant and lactating women. Male and female subjects who are not using effective or who plan to become pregnant within 3 months of starting the trial.
  • 5.Family history of epilepsy (within three generations).
  • 6.History of head trauma or craniocerebral surgery such as open wound or skull repair.
  • 7.Other conditions that were not appropriate for participation in the clinical trial.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(5)

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.

DSM diagnostic criteria

The American Psychiatric Association’s manual of mental health diagnoses. DSM-5 (2013, revised as DSM-5-TR in 2022) replaced DSM-IV, and some studies still name the older edition. “Meets DSM criteria for …” means diagnosed by that edition’s diagnostic criteria, usually by a clinician in an interview.

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.

Clinically significant

Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.

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.

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
70 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Active comparator
    active group

    tDCS stimulation, which was performed once a day sessions of active anodal tDCS to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and cathode to the left OFC (2 mA, 20 minutes, 10 sessions over 2 weeks). In the active group, current stimulations were gradually ramped up to 2 mA (in 30 seconds) intensity for 20 minutes, once a day, for 10 days.

    Device: active group of tDCS

  • Sham comparator
    sham group

    tDCS stimulation, which was performed once a day sessions of sham anodal tDCS to the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and cathode to the left OFC (2 mA, 20 minutes, 10 sessions over 2 weeks). For sham stimulation, the procedure was identical, except that the current was gradually ramped up to 2mA and rapidly down to zero (in 30 seconds), thus leading to the same initial sensations of tDCS.

    Device: sham group of tDCS

Interventions

  • Deviceactive group of tDCS

    Transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS) is a neurostimulation that has aroused concern in psychiatry. As a non-invasive brain modulation that delivered a weak direct current (0.5-2 mA) via two scalp electrodes (an anode and a cathode) overlying targeted cortical areas. It can produce polarity-dependent effects, like inducing functional changes in resting membrane potential and cerebral blood flow. Specifically, a depolarization of the neurons membranes by anodal stimulation and thus invokes an increase of the spontaneous neuronal firing rate, whereas cathodal stimulation induces neuronal hyperpolarization. In the active group, current stimulations were gradually ramped up to 2 mA (in 30 seconds) intensity for 20 minutes, once a day, for 10 days.

  • Devicesham group of tDCS

    Transcranial direct current stimulation(tDCS) is a neurostimulation that has aroused concern in psychiatry. As a non-invasive brain modulation that delivered a weak direct current (0.5-2 mA) via two scalp electrodes (an anode and a cathode) overlying targeted cortical areas. It can produce polarity-dependent effects, like inducing functional changes in resting membrane potential and cerebral blood flow. Specifically, a depolarization of the neurons membranes by anodal stimulation and thus invokes an increase of the spontaneous neuronal firing rate, whereas cathodal stimulation induces neuronal hyperpolarization. For sham stimulation, the procedure was identical, except that the current was gradually ramped up to 2mA and rapidly down to zero (in 30 seconds), thus leading to the same initial sensations of tDCS.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. the reduction in YMRS after two weeks of study

    Young Manic Rating Scale (YMRS), as the most widely used assessment tool for severity of manic symptoms in bipolar patients. We used it to assess the symptoms of mania in subjects and calculated the reduction from the scores before and after 2 weeks of treatment. The response was defined as \>50% reduction in YMRS after two weeks of study.

    Time frame: two weeks of study

Secondary outcomes

  1. the scale of MADRS

    Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS), used to evaluate the depressive symptom in mood disorder.

    Time frame: each visit of study in 8 weeks

  2. the scale of QIDS-16

    SR16 is a professional, systematic, and very rigorous self-rating scale, which is characterized by simplicity and clarity, and can quickly understand the degree of depression through this questionnaire.

    Time frame: each visit of study in 8 weeks

  3. the scale of ASRM

    Altman Self-Rating Mania Scale (ASRM), is a 5-item self rating mania scale, designed to assess the presence and/or severity of manic symptoms.

    Time frame: each visit of study in 8 weeks

  4. the scale of WCST

    Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a neuropsychological test that is frequently used to measure such higher-level cognitive processes as attention, perseverance, WM, abstract thinking, CF, and set shifting.

    Time frame: each visit of study in 8 weeks

  5. the scale of Stroop Color Word Test

    The Stroop Color and Word Test (SCWT) is a neuropsychological test extensively used to assess the ability to inhibit cognitive interference.

    Time frame: each visit of study in 8 weeks

  6. the scale of MMAS-8

    The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale (MMAS) is a validated assessment tool used to measure non-adherence in a variety of patient populations.

    Time frame: each visit of study in 8 weeks

  7. the scale of GAF

    The Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) is a number between 0 and 100 that summarizes the clinician's view of the patient's current degree of impairment in terms of psychosocial and occupational or educational function.

    Time frame: each visit of study in 8 weeks

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Nov 18, 2022, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT05622552
Lead sponsor
Dongbin Lyu
Responsible party
Dongbin Lyu (Resident, Shanghai Mental Health Center) — Sponsor-investigator
First posted
Nov 18, 2022
Start date
Oct 1, 2022
Primary completion
Dec 31, 2023 (estimated)
Completion
Dec 31, 2024 (estimated)
Last update
Nov 18, 2022

Study contacts

Dongbin Lyu, MBBS
Contact
shuiysuper@foxmail.com
+86 64387250
Weichieh Yang, MBBS
Contact
+8613701635337
Dongbin Lyu, MBBS
principal investigator · Shanghai Mental Health Center

Oversight

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

Not currently enrolling

This study is status unknown, as verified in Nov 2022. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

Follow this study

Get an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.

Sign in to follow

Discussion

Questions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.

Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.

Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.

Start the discussion