An observational study in Internal Jugular Vein Stenosis, Cognitive Impairment and Cerebral Venous Outflow Obstruction, sponsored by Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University. Not yet recruiting. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 65 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-11-10.
Sponsored by Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University · Observational
This study aims to determine the effect of long-term head and neck venous outflow obstruction-specifically internal jugular vein stenosis (IJVS) caused by atlas transverse process compression with a stenosis rate ≥50%-on cognitive function, and to observe the cognitive outcomes of atlas transverse process resection combined with release and perfusion technique in routine clinical care. The study uses a case-control design to compare cognitive function between patients with IJVS and matched healthy controls, and a prospective cohort design to follow surgical and non-surgical cohorts for 6 months. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) total score is the primary cognitive measure. The target population per the protocol summary is image-confirmed IJVS due to atlas transverse process compression (stenosis ≥50%), with mild-to-moderate cognitive impairment (MoCA \<26), aged 18-65 years.
Internal jugular vein stenosis is an important cause of head and neck venous outflow obstruction, and extrinsic stenosis caused by bony compression of the atlas transverse process is common in clinical practice. Atlas transverse process decompression is currently used mainly to relieve somatic symptoms such as pulsatile tinnitus, headache, and dizziness; however, high-quality evidence on its systematic effect on cognitive function is lacking. This study is conducted within routine clinical care and does not add any additional invasive sampling or traumatic examinations. During standard management-surgical decompression or conservative treatment-cognitive function and imaging-based venous outflow indicators are observed longitudinally.
In the case-control component, patients with IJVS (disease duration ≥6 months) are matched 1:1 to healthy controls by age, sex, and years of education; MoCA total scores and cognitive subdomain scores are compared. In the cohort component, patients are assigned to a surgical cohort or a non-surgical cohort according to clinical indications and patient preference, without randomization or inducement. Follow-up is conducted at 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery or enrollment. The planned total cohort sample size is 72 participants (36 surgical and 36 non-surgical, allowing for a 10% dropout rate). Healthy controls for the case-control analysis are matched 1:1 and are not counted within the 72 cohort participants.
3,872 studies on the registry are indexed under Cognitive Dysfunction; 1,119 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 72 is below the median of 150 across 997 observational studies indexed under Cognitive Dysfunction.
Browse Cognitive Dysfunction studies →Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University is the lead sponsor of 15 studies on the registry; 7 are open to participants now.
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Surgical cohort Procedure (routine clinical care, not a study intervention) Patients undergo atlas transverse process resection combined with release and perfusion technique according to clinical indications. The procedure aims to relieve bony compression of the internal jugular vein by the atlas transverse process. Postoperative follow-up is performed according to routine care. The study does not alter surgical indications or the operative procedure; it only observes changes in MoCA scores and imaging-based venous outflow indicators at 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery.
Healthy control group (case-control component) Observational comparator group Age-, sex-, and education-matched individuals without IJVS or head and neck venous outflow obstruction, matched 1:1 to the case group.
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.
Cohort study (surgical cohort / non-surgical cohort):
Age 18-65 years, either sex. Confirmed by head and neck CT venography (CTV), MR venography (MRV), and jugular vein ultrasound as extrinsic IJVS caused by atlas transverse process compression, with a stenosis rate ≥50%.
Voluntary participation and signed written . Able to cooperate with cognitive assessment and related examinations at all scheduled time points.
No severe hepatic or renal insufficiency, coagulation disorders, or other severe underlying diseases.
Surgical cohort: no surgical and willingness to undergo atlas transverse process resection combined with release and perfusion technique. Non-surgical cohort: willingness to receive conservative treatment without surgery and no urgent surgical indication during follow-up.
Case-control study-case group:
Clinically confirmed IJVS with disease duration ≥6 months. CTV-confirmed IJVS caused by atlas transverse process compression. No history of previous cerebral infarction, intracranial hemorrhage, Alzheimer's disease, or other known causes of cognitive decline.
Complete baseline clinical and imaging data available.
Case-control study-healthy control group:
Age-, sex-, and education-matched individuals without IJVS, without head and neck venous outflow obstruction, and without severe organic disease or a history of cognitive impairment.
Exclusion Criteria
Cohort study:
Cognitive impairment caused by another definite etiology (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, cerebral infarction, cerebral hemorrhage, hypothyroidism).
Severe psychiatric disease preventing cooperation with cognitive assessment and study procedures.
Neck surgery, radiotherapy, or internal jugular vein intervention within the previous 3 months.
Pregnancy or breastfeeding. Malignant tumor, disease, or other condition with an expected survival of less than 1 year.
Long-term use of sedative-hypnotics or cognitive-enhancing drugs that may affect assessment.
Refusal to participate in follow-up or inability to complete all scheduled assessments.
Case-control study:
Other imaging-detected venous abnormalities, such as venous sinus stenosis or jugular vein reflux, or the styloid process identified as the main compressive structure causing IJVS.
Severe heart failure or other major cardiac dysfunction. Severe hearing impairment or other conditions that may affect the validity or completion of cognitive assessment.
Intrathoracic or intracranial space-occupying lesions, cerebral vascular malformations, or other abnormalities on high-resolution chest CT, brain MRI, or CT that may constitute a major hemodynamic obstruction.
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.
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
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.
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
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.
MMSE and MoCA
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
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.
Autoimmune disease
A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.
Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Internal Jugular Vein Stenosis
healthy controls
Change in MoCA total score
Change in the Montreal Cognitive Assessment total score from baseline to 6 months after surgery/follow-up. In the cohort component, between-group differences and repeated-measures trends are compared between the surgical and non-surgical cohorts. In the case-control component, baseline differences between cases and healthy controls are compared.
Time frame: Baseline, 1 month, 3 months, and 6 months after surgery/follow-up
IJV stenosis improvement rate
Imaging-based quantitative assessment of improvement in IJVS severity by CTV/ultrasound.
Time frame: Baseline, 1, 3, and 6 months after surgery/follow-up
Head and neck venous outflow patency
CTV/MRV assessment of venous sinus morphology, patency, and collateral circulation; ultrasound assessment of blood flow velocity and reflux.
Time frame: Baseline, 1, 3, and 6 months
Incidence of postoperative complications/adverse events
Bleeding, infection, hematoma, nerve stimulation, venous thrombosis, contrast agent reactions, etc.
Time frame: Intraoperative period through 6-month follow-up
No study locations are listed for this record.
Plan to share: No — We do not plan to share individual participant data (IPD). This is due to the strict requirements of the Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China and the local Ethics Committee regarding the protection of patient privacy and medical data, as the participants did not explicitly provide consent for public data sharing at the time of enrollment.
No publications or documents are linked to this record.
From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
This study is not yet recruiting, as verified in Nov 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University