Could a headset at home replace hospital visits for chronic pain?
NCT ID NCT07211256
First seen Jun 27, 2026 · Last updated Jun 27, 2026
Summary
This study tests a safe, home-use device that sends mild electrical current to the brain (tDCS) to help people with long-term pain who only got short-term relief from a similar hospital treatment. About 70 adults with chronic nerve or pain-sensitization pain will use the device 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week for 3 months. Half will get real stimulation, half a sham, and neither they nor their doctors will know which. The goal is to see if home tDCS can provide lasting pain relief and improve quality of life.
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Study facts
What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.
- Phase
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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
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About 70 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jan 2025
- Expected to finish
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Feb 2028
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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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
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18 to 80 years
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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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: Chronic pain for at least 6 months Pain intensity ≥ 4/10 on 0-10 NRS Pain present every day or nearly every day Neuropathic pain (DN4 score ≥ 4/10) or nociplastic pain (Kosek et al Pain 2021) Patients previously treated with rTMS of the motor cortex in routine in our pain center but with only transient efficacy (ie, efficacy for less than one month, defined as pain intensity improved by at least 30 %) Affilitated to social security Exclusion Criteria: Contraindications to tDCS as stated in the manufacturer brochure (ie, implantable device , severe cognitive disorders, epilepsia, skin problems where will placed the electrodes, arterial or venous thrombosis, thrombophlebitis, metallic intracranial implant, cranioth-omy, incracranial aneuvrysm, cerebral tumor, severel sleep disorders such as narcolepsia) Conciomitant treatment which might increase the risk of epilepsia such as high doses opioids (≥ 140 mg morphine equivalent) or high. doses tricyclic antidepressants (≥ 150 mg per day) Pregnancy or lactation Age below 18 or \> 80 years Pending litigation related to pain Pain more severe than neuropathic or nociplastic pain requiring treatment Severe disease such as cancer Severe psychiatric condition (psychosis) Impossible to be followed for up to 3 months Participation in a recent protocol (less than 3 months) Psychoactive drug abuse
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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.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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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
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Centre d'Evaluation et de Traitement de la douleur, INSERM U 987
RECRUITINGBoulogne-Billancourt, Hauts de Seine, 92100, France
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Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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