Could magnetic pulses ease cancer nerve pain?
NCT ID NCT07187219
First seen Jun 26, 2026 · Last updated Jun 26, 2026
Summary
This study tests whether a non-invasive brain stimulation technique called rTMS can reduce chronic nerve pain in people with cancer. Sixty participants will receive both real and sham (placebo) stimulation in a crossover design, with an 8-week break in between. The goal is to see if active rTMS provides more pain relief than placebo, and to measure effects on quality of life and mood.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) device
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a non-drug option to reduce chronic nerve pain in cancer patients, improving quality of life.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early-stage study with only 60 people. The effect may be modest or no better than placebo, and results may not apply to all cancer pain types.
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
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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 60 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Jun 2025
- Expected to finish
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May 2029
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 85 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.
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Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.
Inclusion Criteria: * Patient affiliated to or entitled under a social security scheme * Patient who has received informed information about the study and who has co-signed, with the investigator, a consent form to participate in the study. * Patient aged 18 to 85 (male or female), * Central or peripheral neuropathic pain related to cancer and/or its treatment; * Chronic pain (present for more than 4 months) whose intensity is greater than or equal to 4/10 on a VAS (Visual Analogue Scale) numerical scale. * Pain present on a daily or almost daily basis (at least 4 days a week) * Patient not completely relieved by recommended first- and second-line drug treatments for neuropathic pain * Stable analgesic treatment (no new treatment or dosage adjustment) for at least one month and will not need to be modified for the duration of the study. * Patient can be followed throughout the study. * Indication for rTMS of the motor cortex by a neurologist. Exclusion Criteria: * Accident at work or litigation, * Contraindication to rTMS or MRI (treatment with seismotherapy during the previous month; history of cranial trauma; intracranial hypertension; intracerebral metal clip; piercing; pacemaker; insulin pump; metal prosthesis; pregnant or breast-feeding woman; claustrophobia). * Chronic alcoholism * Abuse of drugs or psychoactive substances * Neuropathic pain as part of a progressive pathology (e.g. HIV), * Presence of other pain of greater intensity than the neuropathic pain leading to inclusion * Acute stroke (\< 3 months) * Patient with brain tumour lesions * Patient with infectious or metabolic brain lesions * Patients with severe or recent cardiac disorders * Patients with cognitive impairment * Patient unable to understand informed consent, * Patients refusing to stop or unable to stop treatments prohibited during the study, such as morphine. * Patients participating in another research protocol involving a medicinal product within 30 days prior to inclusion. * Patients deprived of their liberty or under legal protection (guardianship, curatorship, safeguard of justice, family habilitation).
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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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PEYRON Roland
RECRUITINGSaint-Etienne, 42055, France
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