Recruiting

tACS

Sponsor:

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Code:

NCT06029075

Conditions

Neuropathic Pain Management

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Interventions

tACS Sham

tACS 10Hz

tACS 20Hz

Study Details

Brief summary:

The overall goal is to investigate the effectiveness of a novel intervention - transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) for neuropathic pain management in people after spinal cord injury.

Conditions

Neuropathic Pain Management

Study ID

NCT06029075

Start date

Sep 1, 2025

Status verified date

May, 2026

Completion date

Mar 31, 2028

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Sep 30, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Not accepted

Inclusion/exclusion criteria for SCI subjects

Inclusion criteria: A patient who

1. has neuropathic pain after traumatic spinal cord injury or amputation or brain injury;
2. has chronic pain, >3 months;
3. is between 18 to 75 years of age;
4. is stable on oral pain medications at least two weeks. Patients are allowed to continue their pain medications, i.e., no change in pain medications.

NOTE: we plan to begin the study with the spinal cord injury (SCI) subject population as a cohort first, then expand to other subject populations

Exclusion criteria: Patients will be excluded if they

1. are currently adjusting oral pain medications for their neuropathic pain;
2. have pain, but not neuropathic, e.g., from inflammation at the incision wound of the residual limb or neuroma;
3. have a pacemaker metal implants or supplemental oxygen;
4. have amputation in their arm(s);
5. fail to have a motor contraction in the arm muscles with TMS;
6. are not able to follow commands, or to give consent;
7. have asthma or other pulmonary disease;
8. are not medically stable;
9. have preexisting psychiatric disorders;
10. alcohol or drug abuse.

Study Design

Enrollment

14 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Crossover

Primary purpose

Treatment

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: "tACS Sham, tACS 10Hz, tACS 20Hz" experimental order

1. tACS Sham is a temporary non-invasive electrical stimulation that applies a weak oscillatory current to the brain through the scalp for up to 30 second, it is not designed to entrain neuronal activity into any external regulatory frequency patterns.
2. tACS 10Hz is a 10Hz non-invasive electrical stimulation that applies a weak oscillatory current to the brain through the scalp or 20 or 40 minutes to entrain neuronal activity into 10Hz frequency patterns.
3. tACS 20Hz is a 20Hz non-invasive electrical stimulation that applies a weak oscillatory current to the brain through the scalp for 20 or 40 minutes to entrain neuronal activity into 20Hz frequency patterns.

experimental: "HD-tACS 20Hz, HD-tACS 10Hz, HD-tACS Sham" experimental order

1. tACS 20Hz is a 20Hz non-invasive electrical stimulation that applies a weak oscillatory current to the brain through the scalp for 20 or 40 minutes to entrain neuronal activity into 20Hz frequency patterns.
2. tACS 10Hz is a 10Hz non-invasive electrical stimulation that applies a weak oscillatory current to the brain through the scalp or 20 or 40 minutes to entrain neuronal activity into 10Hz frequency patterns.
3. tACS Sham is a temporary non-invasive electrical stimulation that applies a weak oscillatory current to the brain through the scalp for up to 30 second, it is not designed to entrain neuronal activity into any external regulatory frequency patterns.

experimental: "HD-tACS 10Hz, HD-tACS 20Hz, HD-tACS Sham" experimental order

1. tACS 10Hz is a 10Hz non-invasive electrical stimulation that applies a weak oscillatory current to the brain through the scalp or 20 or 40 minutes to entrain neuronal activity into 10Hz frequency patterns.
2. tACS 20Hz is a 20Hz non-invasive electrical stimulation that applies a weak oscillatory current to the brain through the scalp for 20 or 40 minutes to entrain neuronal activity into 20Hz frequency patterns.
3. tACS Sham is a temporary non-invasive electrical stimulation that applies a weak oscillatory current to the brain through the scalp for up to 30 second, it is not designed to entrain neuronal activity into any external regulatory frequency patterns.

Interventions

tACS Sham

Sham tACS will applied to the brain through the scalp for 20 minutes.

tACS 10Hz

10Hz tACS will applied to the brain through the scalp for 20 minutes.

tACS 20Hz

20Hz tACS will applied to the brain through the scalp for 20 minutes.

Primary outcome measure

  • Pain scale (visual analogue scale, VAS) measurement [ Time Frame: Change of VAS 5 minutes before and after the tACS intervention will be measured. ]
  • Heart rate variability (HRV) measurement [ Time Frame: Change of HRV 10-15 minutes before and after the tACS intervention will be measured. ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Locations

The University of Texas Health Science Center

Recruiting

Houston, Texas, United States, 77030

Contacts

More Information

Sponsor

The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston

Last update posted

Jun 3, 2026

Last verified

May, 2026

Keywords

  • tACS
  • Neuropathic Pain

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-09. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston on 2026-06-03.