Recruiting
Phase 2

Nitrous Oxide

Sponsor:

Stanford University

Code:

NCT03826693

Conditions

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

Nitrous Oxide

Nitrogen

Study Details

Brief summary:

This study investigates whether the commonly used and well-tolerated inhaled anesthetic nitrous oxide can rapidly improve symptoms of OCD.

Conditions

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Study ID

NCT03826693

Start date

Apr 17, 2021

Status verified date

Aug, 2025

Completion date

Oct, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 65

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 18-65
  • Primary diagnosis of OCD
  • Sufficient severity of OCD symptoms
  • Ability to tolerate a treatment-free period
  • Capacity to provide informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Psychiatric or medical conditions that make participation unsafe
  • Pregnant or nursing females
  • Concurrent use of any medications that might increase the risk of participation (e.g. drug interactions)

Study Design

Enrollment

45 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: Experimental: Nitrous Oxide

OCD participants in this arm will receive 50%oxygen/50% nitrous oxide admixture for 60 minutes.

placebo comparator: Control: Nitrogen

OCD participants in this arm will receive 50%oxygen/50% nitrogen admixture for 60 minutes.

Interventions

Nitrous Oxide

OCD participants in this arm will receive 50%oxygen/50% nitrous oxide admixture for 60 minutes.

Nitrogen

OCD participants in this arm will receive 50%oxygen/50% nitrogen admixture for 60 minutes.

Primary outcome measure

  • Improvement in the severity of OCD symptoms as measured by the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) [ Time Frame: 1 week ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Pavithra Mukunda, MS

650-723-4095ocdresearch@stanford.edu

Sindu Menon, MBBS

650-723-4095ocdresearch@stanford.edu

Locations

Stanford University

Recruiting

Stanford, California, United States, 94304

Contacts

Pavithra Makunda, MS

650-723-4095ocdresearch@stanford.edu

Sindu Menon, MBBS

650-723-4095ocdresearch@stanford.edu

Principal Investigator:

Peter van Roessel, MD, PhD

More Information

Sponsor

Stanford University

Last update posted

Aug 27, 2025

Last verified

Aug, 2025

Keywords

  • OCD
  • nitrous oxide

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by Stanford University on 2025-08-27.