Sound waves zapped into brain to kill cancer pain without drugs
NCT ID NCT07405645
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This early-stage study tests a non-invasive procedure that uses focused ultrasound to create a tiny lesion in the brain's pain center. It is for 20 adults with head, neck, or brachial cancer whose pain is not controlled by opioids. The goal is to see if it is safe and can reduce worst pain scores.
This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.
Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
-
Not a phased trial
Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.
- Participants
-
About 20 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Expected to start
-
Feb 2026
An estimate. Start dates often move.
- Expected to finish
-
Dec 2029
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
-
Other sponsor
The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
-
18 to 85 years
- Sex
-
Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
-
Not accepted
This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.
Show the full entry requirements Hide the full entry requirements
Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Men and women, between 18 and 85 years, inclusive 2. Subjects with head, neck, or brachial cancer, including one of the following: * Cancer that arises in the head and neck region: nasal cavity, sinuses, lips, mouth, salivary glands, throat, or larynx (typically squamous cell carcinoma) * Cancer occurring in the nasopharynx, skin, thyroid gland, and eye * Cancer involving the brachial region including brachial plexus, upper lung apex, and Pancoast tumors. * Lymphoma * Sarcoma 3. Craniofacial, cervical, or brachial pain related to the cancer that meets all of the following criteria: * Severe defined by: Worst NPRS score of ≥ 5 out of 10 at current visit and the subject reports having a similar level of pain for at least the past two months. * Pain is medication-refractory to all three tiers of the WHO cancer pain ladder. Thus, adequate trials of at least 3 prescription medications that will include a 'weak' and a 'strong' opioid. An adequate medication trial is defined as a therapeutic dose of each medication without sufficient effect. * Duration of greater than 3 months. 4. Mesencephalon contralateral to the pain can be targeted by the ExAblate Neuro device. The region of the mesencephalon must be apparent on MRI. Additional MRI sequences including inversion-recovery and DTI may be utilized to refine the target. 5. Subjects who are able and willing to give consent and able to attend all study visits 6. Subjects who are able to communicate sensations during the focused ultrasound treatment Exclusion Criteria: 1. Idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia 2. Trigeminal neuropathic pain from trauma, infection, or iatrogenic 3. Post-herpetic neuralgia 4. Headache syndromes like migraine, cluster headache 5. Temporomandibular joint syndrome 6. Atypical facial pain or pain related to a somatoform disorder 7. Subjects deemed poor candidates by a multidisciplinary team of cancer and palliative care clinicians: 1. Subject deemed by their oncologist to have limited life expectancy for outcome assessment. At least 3 months life expectancy is required to obtain the primary efficacy outcome measure. 2. Significant clinician concern about reliability of subject-reported information, such as subject in active process of seeking disability for neuropathic pain 3. Subjects exhibiting any behavior(s) consistent with ethanol or substance abuse as defined by the criteria outlined in the DSM-V as manifested by one (or more) of the following occurring within a 12 month period: Recurrent substance use resulting in a failure to fulfill major role obligations at work, school, or home (such as repeated absences or poor work performance related to substance use; substance-related absences, suspensions, or expulsions from school; or neglect of children or household). Recurrent substance use in situations in which it is physically hazardous (such as driving an automobile or operating a machine when impaired by substance use) 4. Recurrent substance-related legal problems (such as arrests for substance related disorderly conduct) 5. Continued substance use despite having persistent or recurrent social or interpersonal problems caused or exacerbated by the effects of the substance (for example, arguments with spouse about consequences of intoxication and physical fights). 8. Subjects with active psychiatric illness will be excluded. For the purpose of this study, active psychiatric illness includes: 1. Exhibiting current suicide ideation and/or a history of suicide attempt within past 2 years 2. been hospitalized for the treatment of a psychiatric illness within the past 2 years 3. received transcranial magnetic stimulation for depression treatment 4. received electroconvulsive therapy for depression 5. any presence or history of psychosis 9. Subjects with unstable cardiac status including: 1. Unstable angina pectoris on medication 2. Subjects with documented myocardial infarction within six months of protocol entry 3. Significant congestive heart failure defined with ejection fraction \< 40 4. Subjects with unstable ventricular arrhythmias 5. Subjects with atrial arrhythmias that are not rate-controlled 10. Severe hypertension (diastolic BP \> 100 on medication) 11. Subjects with standard contraindications for MR imaging such as non-MRI compatible implanted metallic devices including cardiac pacemakers, size limitations, etc. 12. On medications that increases the bleeding risk, based on the published guidelines which are currently recognized by the American Society of Regional Anesthesia and Pain Medicine, American Academy of Pain Medicine and the North American Neuromodulation Society (Reg Anesth Pain Med 2015;40: 182-212); specifically: 1. Aspirin or another antiplatelet medication (clopidogrel, prasugrel, ticlopidine, abiciximab) for the last 7 days prior to treatment. 2. Oral, subcutaneous or intravenous anticoagulant medications, such as oral vitamin K inhibitors for the last 7 days, non-vitamin K inhibitor oral anticoagulant (dabigatran, apixaban, rivaroxaban) for the last 72 hours. 3. Intravenous or subcutaneous heparin-derived compounds for the last 48 hours. 13. Individuals who are not able or willing to tolerate the required prolonged stationary supine position during treatment (can be up to 4 hours of total table time.) 14. Subjects participating or have participated in another pain management clinical trial in the last 30 days 15. Subjects with risk factors for intraoperative or postoperative bleeding from a documented coagulopathy or if their serum coagulation studies (platelet count, PT, PTT, and INR) exceed the institutional laboratory limits. 16. Subjects with brain tumors or any significant intracranial mass that impedes the acoustic beam. Subjects with cerebral metastasis may be included if the lesion(s) do not affect the FUS treatment. 17. Any illness that in the investigator's opinion preclude participation in this study 18. Pregnancy or lactation 19. Legal incapacity or limited legal capacity 20. Subjects with a deep brain stimulation implant 21. Skull density ratio, calculated from the baseline noncontrasted head CT, is less than 0.4 22. History of hemorrhagic stroke or cerebrovascular event within the past year of treatment exhibiting incomplete resolution 23. Subjects whose primary pain is other than craniofacial or brachial neuropathic pain. 24. Patients deemed high risk because of their airway for the procedure as evaluated by anesthesia.
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Cancer pain are added.
Genom att skicka in godkänner du våra Användarvillkor
Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
-
The places running it
6 sites. The list below names each one and where it is.
-
The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
-
A doctor treating you
A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.
Contacts and locations
Locations
-
Baylor College of Medicine
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGHouston, Texas, 77054, United States
-
Brigham and Women's Hospital
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGBoston, Massachusetts, 02115, United States
-
Oregon Health and Science University
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGPortland, Oregon, 97239, United States
-
The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGDallas, Texas, 75390, United States
-
University of Virginia
RECRUITINGCharlottesville, Virginia, 22903, United States
-
Weill Cornell Medicine
NOT_YET_RECRUITINGNew York, New York, 10065, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Can a dental assistant keep cancer Patients' mouths healthier during radiation?
- Why do Non-Smokers get head and neck cancer? scientists probe tumor DNA
- Can a video game teach cancer patients to tame their pain?
- Re-irradiation plus cetuximab targets head and neck tumors that return
- Sharper tumor maps: PET scans could tighten radiation beams
- Radiation plus targeted antibody tested in older head and neck cancer patients