An interventional study of Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and Sham tDCS in Huntington Disease, sponsored by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 85 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-02-11.
Sponsored by The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio · Not applicable, Interventional, and Device feasibility
The researchers hope to find out effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) sessions on the behavioral symptoms of Huntington's Disease. If participants are eligible to continue, they will be provided a device to administer the tDCS for 30 minutes each day and be asked to answer questions with the study staff . Participants will be asked to return to the study center for follow ups and to undergo additional cognitive tests and questionnaires. Participants will also be asked to answer questionnaires via a web conferencing platform (Zoom) during the course of the study. Caregivers of the participants will be asked to answer questionnaires to collect more information about the participants.
This clinical trial will investigate the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over cognitive and behavioral symptoms of patients with Huntington's disease (HD). The study will also investigate underlying neurobiological mechanisms of tDCS in HD.
293 studies on the registry are indexed under Huntington Disease; 54 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 16 is below the median of 40 across 207 interventional studies indexed under Huntington Disease.
Browse Huntington Disease studies →The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio is the lead sponsor of 445 studies on the registry; 89 are open to participants now.
Of its 65 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 35 (54%) have results posted.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
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.
Caregiver
Exclusion Criteria:
Caregiver
1. Any individual who does not meet all the inclusion 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.
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.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
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.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The active-tDCS treatment will consist of a constant 2mA current applied during 30-minute sessions with a 30 second ramp up and ramp down at the start and end of the stimulation.
Device: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)
Sham-tDCS treatment will consist of the same montage as the active TDCS with the built-in function of the device that has been shown to be indistinguishable from the active treatment in previous trials described in the literature.
Device: Sham tDCS
The active-tDCS treatment will consist of a constant 2mA current applied during daily 30-minute sessions with a 30 second ramp up and ramp down at the start and end of the stimulation. The anode electrode will be placed over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the cathode electrode over the right DLPFC.
Also known as: tDCS
Sham-tDCS treatment will consist of the same montage as the active TDCS with the built-in function of the device that has been shown to be indistinguishable from the active treatment in previous trials described in the literature.
Also known as: Control
Percentage of Participants that met Inclusion Criteria
Percentage of participants screened that met Inclusion Criteria
Time frame: Baseline
Percentage of Participants that Agreed to Randomization
Percentage of eligible participants that were screened and met eligibility that agreed to be randomized.
Time frame: Baseline
Completed period 1 of study
Percentage of participants who completed first 2 weeks of treatment or sham
Time frame: Day 13
Completed period 2 of study
Percentage of participants that completed both the first period, the washout period and the second period of the study
Time frame: Day 35
Completion of study to last visit
Percentage of participants that completed study from randomization to tDCS/Sham crossed over to alternate treatment/sham and returned for final visit
Time frame: Day 36 (or day 37)
TDCS Acceptability Scale
This Likert scale scores 10 items for user acceptability. Each item is scored from 0-10 giving. Some items have negative valence, in which lower scores indicate higher acceptability. An averaged of adjusted scores for all items is calculated to produce a global acceptability score ranging from 0 to 10. A higher score on the global score indicates better acceptability.
Time frame: Day 14 and Day 35
tDCS Side Effects Scale
This Likert scale includes 10 items scored from 0-10 for possible side effects. The first 9 items include a list of possible side effects and the last item is free field for the report of any additional side effects. Lower scores indicate less intensity of side effects. Scores will be reported for each individual item.
Time frame: Day 8, 14, 29 and 35
Problem Behaviors Assessment Scale (PBA-S)
This scale rates the participant's average behavior over the past weeks by taking into account the severity and frequency of a range of psychiatric symptoms. There are 11 items assessed with a possible total score range of 0-176. A lower score indicates less psychiatric symptoms.
Time frame: Baseline, and days 14, 22, and 35.
Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB)
This scale is a brief cognitive and behavioral battery. The total maximum score is 18, with higher scores indicating better performance.
Time frame: Baseline, and days 14 and 35.
Plan to share: Yes — Data collected for this study will be analyzed and stored at the Glenn Bigs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative diseases at UT Health San Antonio. After the study is completed, the de-identified, archived data will be transmitted to and stored at the Glenn Bigs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative diseases at UT Health San Antonio, for use by other researchers including those outside of the study. Permission to transmit data to the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer's and Neurodegenerative diseases at UT Health San Antonio will be included in the informed consent.
Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan
Time frame: When the study is completed and data is analyzed.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
Started Sep 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Dec 2026, 15 months after the start.
Of 33 interventional studies with no phase under Huntington Disease, half reached primary completion within 32 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 19 and three quarters within 36. This study's planned 15 months is below that.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
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