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Treatment of Chronic Cluster Headache with TENS and ONS

CompletedNot applicableNCT05023460
View the official record on ClinicalTrials.gov

Recruiting status changes often. Contact the study team listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, and talk to your doctor before joining a study.

This study has no listed site in Canada in this snapshot. It is included as part of the worldwide chronic pain corpus.

Brief summary (from the registry)

The study is an investigator-initiated, prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, double blind clinical trial that aims to investigate the effect of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) and occipital nerve stimulation (ONS) on attack frequency and severity in patients with chronic cluster headache (CH). Study outline Month 1: Baseline. Establishment of a baseline profile of the participants CH attacks (severity, duration, medicine utilization etc), health-related quality of life (QoL) and symptoms of anxiety and depression. No active treatment. Follow-up visit after 30 days. Months 2-4: TENS period. All participants will receive TENS-treatment. Clinical follow-up visit by the end of month four. Months 5-7: Double-blinded, randomized experimental period. All participants will have an ONS-system (lead, impulse generator) implanted and will be randomized 1:1 to receive either 1) burst (paresthesia-free) ONS or 2) placebo (deactivated ONS system). Clinical follow-up visit by the end of month seven. Months 8-10: Open label period. All participants will receive tonic (conventional, paresthesia-inducing) ONS. Clinical follow-up visit by the end of month ten. During every study phase each participant will fill out a weekly electronic headache registration as well as answering questionnaires regarding health-related quality of life and symptoms of anxiety and depression before every follow-up visit.

Study details

Official title
Treatment of Chronic Cluster Headache (Horton's Headache) with Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation and Occipital Nerve Stimulation
Conditions
  • Chronic Cluster Headache
  • Primary Headache Disorder
  • Headache
  • Cluster Headache
  • Pain
  • Cephalgia
  • Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalgia
Interventions
Sponsor
University of Aarhus
Collaborators
Aarhus University Hospital; Danish Headache Center
Start date
2021-08-27
Primary completion
2024-07-15
Sex
All
Age range
from 18 Years
Results posted
No results posted in this snapshot
Countries
Denmark
Total sites listed
1

Eligibility criteria

Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: 1. Age 18 years and above 2. Signed informed written consent 3. Diagnosed with chronic CH according to the ICHD-3 criteria 4. 15 or more CH attacks per month 5. Stable use of preventive headache medication one month prior to enrollment Exclusion Criteria: 1. Other ongoing neuromodulation therapy 2. Current alcohol and/or drug abuse 3. Severe psychiatric disorder 4. Other chronic primary or chronic secondary headache disorder (e.g. chronic migraine) 5. Major posterior neck surgery in C2-C3 level and above 6. Pregnancy 7. Treatment with oral steroids or GON injection within one month of study participation

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT05023460