Neural Correlates of Auriculotherapy
CompletedNot applicableNCT06358287
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)
Chronic pain continues to be a major health issue, creating a significant societal burden, as it is an independent risk factor for opioid use disorder (OUD) and deaths. Acute pain episodes can often engender OUD due to lack of effective strategies to treat pain and prevent the transition to chronic pain. One potential non-opioid method for pain relief is auriculotherapy (AT), where acupuncture-like treatment is administered to the ear. The objective of this pilot study is to illustrate that AT-related brain effects can be found using functional connectivity MRI (fcMRI) in patients with low back pain.
Study details
- Official title
- Neural Correlates of Auriculotherapy
- Conditions
- Interventions
- Procedure: cryogenic auriculotherapy
- Sponsor
- Keith M. Vogt, MD, PhD
- Organization
- University of Pittsburgh
- Start date
- 2021-07-15
- Primary completion
- 2022-11-07
- Sex
- All
- Age range
- from 18 Years
- Results posted
- No results posted in this snapshot
- Countries
- United States
- Total sites listed
- 1
Eligibility criteria
Show eligibility criteria (verbatim from the registry)
Inclusion Criteria: * Age 18 and above. * Experiencing low back pain for \> 1 month and seeking treatment. * Literate for reading and writing in English, decision competent, willing and able to provide written informed consent, and able to complete the study's schedule of assessments. Exclusion Criteria: * Subjects under 18 years of age. * History of claustrophobia. * Having non-MRI safe metallic or foreign objects in their body. * History of dementia. * History of sensory or motor deficits that preclude participation in pain fMRI. * History of clinically unstable systemic illness that is judged to interfere with the study. * Pregnancy or the intent to become pregnant during the study.
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov (US National Library of Medicine), snapshot October 2026. Check the registry for current recruiting status. Record: https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06358287