Brain stimulation tailored to your brain waves could treat depression
NCT ID NCT05327387
First seen Jun 25, 2026 · Last updated Jun 26, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
This study explores whether electrical brain stimulation can be personalized using a patient's own brain activity. Researchers will work with 25 epilepsy patients who already have electrodes implanted for medical monitoring. They aim to develop a system that tracks depression symptoms from neural signals and adjusts stimulation accordingly, potentially offering a new way to treat depression that doesn't respond to standard treatments.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- electrical brain stimulation
- What this could lead to
- If successful, this could lead to a personalized brain stimulation therapy for depression that adapts to each patient's neural signals.
- What could go wrong
- This is a very early, small proof-of-concept study in epilepsy patients, not depression patients. The approach may not work in real-world settings or for other conditions.
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 25 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
-
Feb 2022
- Expected to finish
-
Mar 2026
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 years and older
- 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: * Patients being evaluated for surgical treatment of medication refractory epilepsy and brain tumors will be studied. ONLY patients with electrodes implanted based on clinical criteria to locate their seizure focus will be studied. Most patients are healthy adults, outside of their epilepsy and/or brain tumor. * Subjects \>= 18 are only included in this study. * All patients with the above conditions and with implanted electrode arrays who are willing to participate and able to cooperate and follow research instructions will be recruited. However, analysis of research recording data will focus on those subjects with an IQ \>= 80, with no impairments of reading, naming, or articulation (to minimize confounds such as abnormal language processing that may affect their self-reporting with the questionnaire), and with no cerebral pathology affecting the cortical regions from which recordings are made. Exclusion Criteria: * Subjects \< 18 years old will be excluded from this study due to the high concordance of developmental disorders (cognitive and language-related) in pediatric epilepsies. * There will be no involvement of special classes of subjects, such as fetuses, neonates, pregnant women, children, prisoners, institutionalized individuals, or others who may be considered vulnerable populations. * Patients who are unable to give informed consent due to a brain disorder will be excluded from the study, as it is very likely that they would be unable to carry out the tasks demanded by the study.
Get updates
Get notified about this study
Sign up to get updates when this study changes or when new studies for Brain tumor 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
2 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
-
University of California, San Francisco
RECRUITINGSan Francisco, California, 94143, United States
-
University of Southern California
RECRUITINGLos Angeles, California, 90089, United States
More trials for these conditions
Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
- Zapping the brain to restore lost vision
- Brain surgery delirium: can real-time monitoring protect older patients?
- Music as medicine: could ukulele lessons rebuild young brains after cancer?
- Can trained immune cells outsmart brain tumors?
- Digital tests may offer a new way to track brain health in tumor patients
- Mapping the hidden toll of brain radiation on young minds