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NCT03981055

Parkinson's Disease: Enhancing Physical Therapy With Brain Stimulation for Treating Postural Instability.

Active, enrolled NA Results posted Last updated 3 March 2026
What this trial tests

NA trial testing Active Comparator: Active tDCS and Active TUS in Parkinson Disease in 40 participants. Participants enrolled and being followed up; not accepting new ones.

Timeline
23 January 2020
Primary endpoint
30 April 2024
30 October 2026

Quick facts

Lead sponsorSpaulding Rehabilitation Hospital
PhaseNA
StatusActive, enrolled
Study typeINTERVENTIONAL
Allocationrandomized
Designparallel
Maskingtriple
Primary purposeother
Enrollment40
Start date23 January 2020
Primary completion30 April 2024
Estimated completion30 October 2026
Sites1 location across United States

Drugs / interventions tested

Conditions studied

Sponsor

Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital

Who can join

Adults 40 to 90, any sex, with Parkinson Disease. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.

Results — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Per-arm endpoint measurements with 95% confidence intervals where reported. Source: trial results section.

Improvement in Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) Part III Primary · Change from baseline to Day 14 (end of stimulation treatment).

Motor function was assessed using the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS) Part III - Motor Examination, which measures tremor, rigidity, bradykinesia, postural instability, and gait. Scores range from 0 to 108, where higher scores indicate worse motor impairment (i.e., lower scores represent better motor function).

GroupValue95% CI
Active tDCS and Active TUS4.42± 0.42
Sham TDCS and Sham TUS0.12± 0.43

Adverse events — posted to ClinicalTrials.gov

Time frame: 14 weeks.. Reporting threshold: 0%. Adverse-event reports describe events observed during the trial — not all are caused by the drug.

Active tDCS and Active TUS
Serious: 0/20 (0%)
Deaths: 0/20
Sham TDCS and Sham TUS
Serious: 0/20 (0%)
Deaths: 0/20
Other adverse events (1 terms — click to expand)

ReactionSystemActive tDCS and Active TUSSham TDCS and Sham TUS
TinglingSkin and subcutaneous tissue disorders

Data from ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03981055 adverse events section.

Sponsor's own description

This trial aims to understand the mechanism and to test whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with transcranial ultrasound (TUS) (tDCS+TUS) combined with physical therapy (PT) will induce significant therapeutic effects in postural instability in Parkinson's disease (PT) patients. The investigators designed a double-blinded, placebo controlled, randomized study to investigate the effects of 2 weeks of TDCS+TUS on postural instability in PD patients receiving PT. (Followed by biweekly sessions for 2 more weeks in Phase II)

Publications & conference data

1 peer-reviewed publication reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):

  1. Current state of clinical ultrasound neuromodulation.
    Matt E, Radjenovic S, Mitterwallner M, Beisteiner R. · · 2024 · cited 27× · PMID 38962179 · DOI 10.3389/fnins.2024.1420255

Verify or expand the search:

Other recruiting trials for Parkinson Disease

Currently open trials in the same condition.

Other Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital trials

Trials by the same sponsor.

Verify against primary sources

Data sources for this page

Drug Landscape aggregates and links these public records for informational use only. Always verify against the primary source before clinical or regulatory decisions. Canonical URL: https://druglandscape.com/trial/NCT03981055.

Primary sources · FDA · ClinicalTrials.gov · EMA · SEC EDGAR · ChEMBL · Wikidata · full sourcing