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Low Intensity Focused Ultrasound for Chronic Pain: High Resolution Targeting of The Human Insula
Sponsor: Washington D.C. Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Summary
In this study, the research team will use low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) to temporarily change brain activity in a brain region that is known to be involved in chronic pain. Through this, the research team hopes to learn about how the brain area works in response to pain. There are main questions this study aims to answer: * The effect of LIFU to inhibit the posterior region of the insula (PI) compared to sham stimulation in individuals with chronic back pain (CBP) and widespread pain symptoms. * The effect of LIFU to PI compared to sham stimulation to reduce pain intensity and magnitude of the Neurologic Pain Signature (NPS) in response to evoked thermal pain. * The effect of LIFU to PI compared to sham stimulation to reduce pain intensity and magnitude of Tonic Pain Signature in response to tonic pain.
Key Details
Gender
All
Age Range
21 Years - 75 Years
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Enrollment
66
Start Date
2025-01-15
Completion Date
2028-01-26
Last Updated
2025-04-02
Healthy Volunteers
No
Interventions
low intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU)
Low-intensity focused ultrasound (LIFU) provides an energy source with millimeter resolution that can be focused anywhere in the brain safely and effectively for non-invasive and transient neuromodulation. LIFU is an important advance and of great significance for brain-mapping efforts, diagnostics, and therapies in neuroscience and particularly promising for addiction therapy as it provides unprecedented non-surgical access to the brain regardless of depth. Much lower intensities of focused ultrasound (LIFU) are used so that tissue damage does not occur, but neural activity can be modulated. LIFU utilizes acoustic energy at much lower levels to affect tissue by mechanical effects.
Locations (1)
Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center
Washington D.C., District of Columbia, United States