Efficacy Study of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Treat Major Depressive Disorder

Depressive Disorder, Major Clinical Trial

— SELECT-TDCS  

Official title:

A Factorial, Double-blinded, Randomized Clinical Trial on Major Depressive Disorder Using Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT01033084
• Other study ID #: USP-HU-001
• Secondary ID: FAPESP2009/05728
• Status: Completed
• Phase: Phase 2/Phase 3
• First received: December 15, 2009
• Last updated: December 2, 2011
• Start date: December 2009
• Est. completion date: December 2011

Study information

• Verified date: December 2011
• Source: University of Sao Paulo
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Health authority: Brazil: National Committee of Ethics in Research
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether transcranial direct current stimulation is an effective treatment for major depression, when compared (and combined) to sertraline and placebo.

Description:

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common mental disorder, with a lifetime prevalence of 15% and an incidence of 5% per year. Its core symptoms include lack of pleasure in daily activities, thoughts of guilt and depressed mood. According to the World Health Organization, MDD is one of the ten most impairing conditions, leading to missing workdays, loss of quality of life and increasing expenses in health care. Besides, about 1% of patients with MDD complete suicide. Moreover, one third of patients with MDD remain depressed after more than two adequate treatments, i.e., they are refractory to conventional antidepressant treatments; also, most treated patients remain with residual symptoms. Therefore, the development of new treatments is necessary. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a novel, promising technique in the study of several neuropsychiatric conditions.

Transcranial DCS is a non-invasive brain stimulation method in which a low intensity direct current is applied through the skull, with neurophysiologic studies showing that a considerable amount of electrical current reach the brain tissues, vis-à-vis the specified parameters. Thus, the DC could be applied over brain MDD-related areas, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, thereby leading to neuroplasticity and MDD treatment. Indeed, some pilot studies showed that tDCS might ameliorate depressive symptoms. However, it is necessary to replicate these findings in larger populations to increase the generalizability of the results and to verify the efficacy of the intervention. Our aim is to perform a double blind, randomized, factorial study comparing tDCS and sertraline for MDD treatment, enrolling 120 eligible patients of both genders between 21-65 years not presenting active suicidal ideation. They will be allocated in 4 groups at random to receive active tDCS or sham and sertraline 50mg/day or placebo. Transcranial DCS will be applied in a daily basis for 10 consecutive working days (2 weeks), after that, the patients will be followed weekly for 6 weeks. Our primary outcome is the depression rating scores at 6 weeks, measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), 17-itens. In conclusion, our purpose is to perform a clinical tDCS study to verify its efficacy in the treatment of MDD in a sample of patients of several levels of severity and refractoriness.

Our secondary objectives are also to verify the safety of the intervention as well as to compare tDCMajor Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a common mental disorder, with a lifetime prevalence of 15% and an incidence of 5% per year. Its core symptoms include lack of pleasure in daily activities, thoughts of guilt and depressed mood. According to the World Health Organization, MDD is one of the ten most impairing conditions, leading to missing workdays, loss of quality of life and increasing expenses in health care. Besides, about 1% of patients with MDD complete suicide. Moreover, one third of patients with MDD remain depressed after more than two adequate treatments, i.e., they are refractory to conventional antidepressant treatments; also, most treated patients remain with residual symptoms. Therefore, the development of new treatments is necessary. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a novel, promising technique in the study of several neuropsychiatric conditions.

Transcranial DCS is a non-invasive brain stimulation method in which a low intensity direct current is applied through the skull, with neurophysiologic studies showing that a considerable amount of electrical current reach the brain tissues, vis-à-vis the specified parameters. Thus, the DC could be applied over brain MDD-related areas, such as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, thereby leading to neuroplasticity and MDD treatment. Indeed, some pilot studies showed that tDCS might ameliorate depressive symptoms. However, it is necessary to replicate these findings in larger populations to increase the generalizability of the results and to verify the efficacy of the intervention. Our aim is to perform a double blind, randomized, factorial study comparing tDCS and sertraline for MDD treatment, enrolling 120 eligible patients of both genders between 21-65 years not presenting active suicidal ideation. They will be allocated in 4 groups at random to receive active tDCS or sham and sertraline 50mg/day or placebo. Transcranial DCS will be applied in a daily basis for 10 consecutive working days (2 weeks), after that, the patients will be followed weekly for 6 weeks. Our primary outcome is the depression rating scores at 6 weeks, measured by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), 17-itens. In conclusion, our purpose is to perform a clinical tDCS study to verify its efficacy in the treatment of MDD in a sample of patients of several levels of severity and refractoriness.

Our secondary objectives are also to verify the safety of the intervention as well as to compare tDCS vs. sertraline and the association of sertraline and tDCS vs. each treatment alone in major depression treatment.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 120
• Est. completion date: December 2011
• Est. primary completion date: December 2011
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: Both
• Age group: 18 Years to 65 Years

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Depressive Disorder, Major (SCID)

• HDRS > 18

Exclusion Criteria:

• Other axis I disorders, including Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia, Substance Abuse Disorders.

• Any axis II disorders.

• Any serious/life-threatening axis III disorders, such as Congestive Heart Failure, Pulmonary Obstructive Chronic Disease, Active Neoplasia.

• Neurological diseases such as Stroke (and Post-Stroke Depression), Dementias and others.

Study Design

Allocation: Randomized, Endpoint Classification: Efficacy Study, Intervention Model: Factorial Assignment, Masking: Double Blind (Subject, Caregiver, Investigator, Outcomes Assessor), Primary Purpose: Treatment

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Depression
• Depressive Disorder
• Depressive Disorder, Major

Intervention

Device:
• transcranial direct current stimulation
Transcranial direct current stimulation will be applied at 2mA, 30 minutes/day, for 10 weekdays consecutively and two extra stimulations at week 4 and 6.

Drug:
• Sertraline
Patient will receive sertraline 50mg/day.

Other:
• double placebo
double placebo arm (sham stimulation/placebo pill)

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Brazil	University of Sao Paulo	Sao Paulo	SP

Sponsors (2)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Sao Paulo	Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Brazil, 

References & Publications (2)

Alessandra Baccaro, Andre Russowsky Brunoni, Isabela Martins Bensenor, Felipe Fregni. Hypomanic episode in unipolar depression during transcranial direct current stimulation. Acta Neuropsychiatrica 22(6):316-318, 2010.

Brunoni AR, Valiengo L, Baccaro A, Zanao TA, de Oliveira JF, Vieira GP, Bueno VF, Goulart AC, Boggio PS, Lotufo PA, Bensenor IM, Fregni F. Sertraline vs. ELectrical Current Therapy for Treating Depression Clinical Trial--SELECT TDCS: design, rationale and objectives. Contemp Clin Trials. 2011 Jan;32(1):90-8. doi: 10.1016/j.cct.2010.09.007. Epub 2010 Sep 18. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	MADRS score		repeated-measures	No
Secondary	HDRS-17 score at week 6.		week 6	No
Secondary	Remission rate (MADRS<=10)		week 6	No
Secondary	MADRS score		week 2	No

External Links

•   Web Page of the study (In Portuguese)