Central Mechanisms of Chronic Pain and Fatigue Subtitle: Functional Imaging of Brain and Spinal Cord

Study Purpose

Chronic pain and fatigue are characterized by peripheral and central mechanisms including low pain thresholds, temporal summation, peripheral and central sensitization. This application will focus on central factors of chronic pain and fatigue. Functional brain imaging will be used to characterized brain and spinal cord abnormalities that contribute to the mechanisms of these disorders.

Recruitment Criteria

Accepts Healthy Volunteers Healthy volunteers are participants who do not have a disease or condition, or related conditions or symptoms	Yes
Study Type An interventional clinical study is where participants are assigned to receive one or more interventions (or no intervention) so that researchers can evaluate the effects of the interventions on biomedical or health-related outcomes. An observational clinical study is where participants identified as belonging to study groups are assessed for biomedical or health outcomes. Searching Both is inclusive of interventional and observational studies.	Interventional
Eligible Ages	18 Years - 70 Years
Gender	All

More Inclusion & Exclusion Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

- diagnosis of FM will require a history of chronic widespread pain as well as the presence of at least eleven out of eighteen paired tender points.

- diagnosis of ME/CFS will require a history of chronic fatigue persisting or relapsing for more than 6 months as well as the presence of at least four out of eight designated symptoms.

- willing to reduce anti-depressants to low levels like amitriptyline 10 mg/day, trazodone 50 mg/day, citalopram 20 mg/day, for at least five half-lives of the medication.

Exclusion Criteria:

- Patients unwilling or unable to discontinue or modify analgesics, hypnotics, anxiolytics, or anti-depressants during the study period will be excluded from this trial.

Trial Details

Trial ID: This trial id was obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Institutes of Health, providing information on publicly and privately supported clinical studies of human participants with locations in all 50 States and in 196 countries.	NCT03075254
Phase Phase 1: Studies that emphasize safety and how the drug is metabolized and excreted in humans. Phase 2: Studies that gather preliminary data on effectiveness (whether the drug works in people who have a certain disease or condition) and additional safety data. Phase 3: Studies that gather more information about safety and effectiveness by studying different populations and different dosages and by using the drug in combination with other drugs. Phase 4: Studies occurring after FDA has approved a drug for marketing, efficacy, or optimal use.	N/A
Lead Sponsor The sponsor is the organization or person who oversees the clinical study and is responsible for analyzing the study data.	University of Florida
Principal Investigator The person who is responsible for the scientific and technical direction of the entire clinical study.	Roland Staud, MD
Principal Investigator Affiliation	University of Florida
Agency Class Category of organization(s) involved as sponsor (and collaborator) supporting the trial.	Other, NIH
Overall Status	Enrolling by invitation
Countries	United States
Conditions The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied.	Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia

Additional Details

Chronic fatigue (ME/CFS) and fibromyalgia syndrome (FM) are a chronic musculoskeletal pain disorder that predominantly afflicts women. Frequently associated insomnia, cognitive abnormalities, and fatigue may lead to early disability. No consistent soft tissue abnormalities have been identified so far in these patients. The cause of these disorders is unknown, no highly effective treatment is available and the current methods of diagnosis are imprecise and unreliable. The Investigators previously used quantitative sensory testing to improve upon diagnoses of these disorders by supplementing the current procedure of manipulating defined pressure points by hand and noting the presence or absence of pain. The quantitative methods of evaluation involve repetitive application of brief, non-injurious thermal/mechanical stimulation that normally produces a moderate degree of temporal summation of sensation intensity. The patients and normal control subjects will verbally rate the magnitude of late sensations elicited by each stimulus, using a numerical scale. Chronic pain in these patients results, at least partially, from exaggerated activation of central N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors as a result of enhanced input from unmyelinated peripheral afferent nerve fibers supplying deep tissues. Temporal summation of second pain can lead to central sensitization with subsequent signs of hyperalgesia and allodynia. Functional brain imaging of ME/CFS and FM patients, as proposed in this study, will be used to document their ratings of repetitive experimental stimuli and the resulting pain augmentation. Successful completion of this study will provide a new method for the evaluation of chronic pain/fatigue mechanism and their response to therapy.

Arms & Interventions

Arms

Active Comparator: Healthy Control

normal volunteers (HC) Undergoing sensory testing, brain and spinal cord neuroimaging and Inventory assessments.

Experimental: Fibromyalgia Only

The diagnosis of FM will require a history of chronic widespread pain as well as the presence of at least eleven out of eighteen paired tender points. Undergoing sensory testing, brain and spinal cord neuroimaging and Inventory assessments.

Experimental: Chronic fatigue and Fibromyalgia Syndrome

Diagnosis of ME/CFS will require a history of chronic fatigue persisting or relapsing for more than 6 months as well as the presence of at least four out of eight designated symptoms. Undergoing sensory testing, brain and spinal cord neuroimaging and Inventory assessments.

Interventions

Device: - A Peltier for Sensory testing

Subjects will be trained to rate the magnitude of late sensations elicited following brief (700 msec) contact of a preheated thermode with the glabrous (palmar) skin of either hand/foot either numerically or using a visual analogue scale.

Device: - functional magnetic resonance imaging for Brain Neuroimaging

to evaluate baseline changes in regional cerebral blood flow to nociceptive thermal stimuli applied to the extremities of FM patients and healthy volunteers.

Device: - fMRI for Spinal Cord Neuroimaging

The subjects will be positioned supine and immobilized by means of a padded head support. The spinous process of the first thoracic vertebra (T1) will be aligned with the center of surface Neuro - coil. This coil will be employed for both transmission of radio-frequency (RF) pulses and detection of the magnetic resonance (MR) signal. A modified FLASH sequence will be employed to obtain Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD)-sensitive images of the spinal cord.

Contact a Trial Team

If you are interested in learning more about this trial, find the trial site nearest to your location and contact the site coordinator via email or phone. We also strongly recommend that you consult with your healthcare provider about the trials that may interest you and refer to our terms of service below.

University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida

Status

Address

University of Florida

Gainesville, Florida, 32611

Clinical Trial Finder