Recruiting

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Sponsor:

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Code:

NCT05326451

Conditions

Huntington Disease

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

active tDCS

Study Details

Brief summary:

The purpose of this study is to assess feasibility, acceptability, and safety of providing transcranial direct current stimulation( tDCS) to Huntingtons Disease (HD) patients in the early to middle stages and to assess the efficacy of tDCS for HD-related behavioral, cognitive and other symptoms

Conditions

Huntington Disease

Study ID

NCT05326451

Start date

Jun 21, 2023

Status verified date

Dec, 2025

Completion date

Dec 31, 2026

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Dec 31, 2026

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Participant:

Inclusion Criteria:

  • confirmed HD mutation carriers and/or established family history alongside typical symptoms (i.e. chorea) of HD;
  • early (stages 1 and 2) or moderate (stage 3) stages according to Shoulson-Fahn
  • exhibit mild to moderate behavioral symptoms defined by severity scores in the PBA-S between 1 and 3 for any of the evaluated symptoms and no symptoms with a severity score of 4
  • stable doses of medications for at least one month
  • Have a caregiver willing to be present during tDCS sessions and answer questionnaires.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • unstable medical conditions
  • history of epilepsy
  • metallic objects in the brain
  • Have a caregiver willing to be present during tDCS sessions and answer questionnaires.
  • clinical diagnosis of major cognitive disorder or dementia
  • Have risk of suicidal behavior, defined as any suicidal behavior or suicidal ideation of type 4 or type 5 based on the Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS) in the 3 months prior to screening
  • simultaneous participation in other clinical trial
  • Individuals determined to be incapable of consent per past medical history or via assessment by the study staff at time of consent.

Caregiver:

Inclusion Criteria:

-willingness to participate in the study

Exclusion Criteria:

-motor/cognitive symptoms related to Alzheimer's disease or Huntington's disease that might impair the ability to assist the participant during the research study.

Study Design

Enrollment

10 participants

Anticipated

Intervention Model

Single group

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: active tDCS

Interventions

active tDCS

Participants will receive active tDCS with a constant current intensity of 2mA. Anodal tDCS will be applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, while cathodal electrode will be positioned on the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Caregivers will help setting up and administering tDCS for participants with HD at home. tDCS will be applied for 30min at an intensity of 2mA, with 30 s ramping up and down. Sessions will be remotely supervised by trained research staff (RA), and will run from Monday through Friday for four consecutive weeks.

Primary outcome measure

  • Feasibility as assessed by the number of participants included and who successfully completed the protocol [ Time Frame: through study completion, an average of 8 weeks ]
  • Change in acceptability of the treatment as assessed by the tDCS acceptability questionnaire [ Time Frame: Baseline, week 2, week 4, week 8 ]
  • Change in safety of home-based tDCS treatment as as assessed by the tDCS side effect questionnaire [ Time Frame: week 2, week 4 ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Erin Stimming, MD

(713) 500-7033Erin.E.Furr@uth.tmc.edu

Thiago Macedo e Cordeiro, MD

210-450-7055macedoecorde@uthscsa.edu

Locations

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

Recruiting

Houston, Texas, United States, 77030

Contacts

Erin Stimming, MD

(713) 500-7033Erin.E.Furr@uth.tmc.edu

Thiago Macedo e Cordeiro, MD

210-450-7055macedoecorde@uthscsa.edu

More Information

Sponsor

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Last update posted

Feb 11, 2026

Last verified

Dec, 2025

Keywords

  • transcranial direct current stimulation

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-10. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston on 2026-02-11.