Placebo In Chronic Back Pain - Double-Blind Randomized Control Trial
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2016-05-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
This study is designed to examine brain properties for placebo response in chronic back pain
patients. The investigators have preliminary data indicating that, in blinded clinical trial
studies with neutral instructions regarding treatment, chronic back pain (CBP) patients can
be subdivided into placebo responders and non-responders, and these differences are
PREDICTABLE a priori, by brain activity. The results imply that CBP placebo may have clinical
utility and that its properties can be studied by human brain imaging techniques. In Phase I
of the study, the investigators seek to identify brain imaging parameters that predict the
propensity for the placebo response in an independent CBP cohort. In Phase II, the
investigators will evaluate the interaction between placebo response and medication treatment
in individuals stratified as placebo responders versus non-responders. This research is
designed to critically assess the neurobiology of placebo analgesia for chronic pain in a
partially-blind clinical trial.
Phase:
Phase 4
Details
Lead Sponsor:
Northwestern University
Collaborators:
National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) National Institutes of Health (NIH)