Last reviewed · How we verify
NCT03982888
Deep Brain Stimulation in Children With Autism
NA trial testing Deep Brain Stimulation in Autism Spectrum Disorder in 6 participants. Completed in 31 January 2024.
1 January 2024
Quick facts
| Lead sponsor | The Hospital for Sick Children |
|---|---|
| Phase | NA |
| Status | Completed |
| Study type | INTERVENTIONAL |
| Allocation | na |
| Design | single group |
| Masking | none |
| Primary purpose | treatment |
| Enrollment | 6 |
| Start date | 14 August 2019 |
| Primary completion | 1 January 2024 |
| Estimated completion | 31 January 2024 |
| Sites | 1 location across Canada |
Drugs / interventions tested
- Deep Brain Stimulation
- DBS
Conditions studied
- Autism Spectrum Disorder — all drugs for Autism Spectrum Disorder →
- Self-Injurious Behavior — all drugs for Self-Injurious Behavior →
Sponsor
The Hospital for Sick Children
Who can join
Adults 7 to 18, any sex, with Autism Spectrum Disorder or Self-Injurious Behavior. Patients with the condition only — healthy volunteers not accepted.
Sponsor's own description
The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and possible effectiveness of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the nucleus accumbens in children with autism spectrum disorder and treatment-refractory, repetitive self-injurious behavior. Six (6) patients will be recruited and enrolled in this pilot study and study duration for each patient will be one (1) year. All will undergo surgical implantation of the Medtronic DBS system and will receive stimulation of the nucleus accumbens (2 electrodes per patient).This will be an open, non-blinded, non-randomized, pilot, phase I trial.Expected study duration is 36 months.
Publications & conference data
6 peer-reviewed publications reference this trial (live from Europe PMC):
-
Deep Brain Stimulation for the Management of Refractory Neurological Disorders: A Comprehensive Review.
Rissardo JP, Vora NM, Tariq I, Mujtaba A, et al · · 2023 · cited 17× · PMID 38004040 · DOI 10.3390/medicina59111991 -
An open-label prospective pilot trial of nucleus accumbens deep brain stimulation for children with autism spectrum disorder and severe, refractory self-injurious behavior: study protocol.
Yan H, Siegel L, Breitbart S, Gorodetsky C, et al · · 2022 · cited 11× · PMID 35109924 · DOI 10.1186/s40814-022-00988-3 -
Deep Brain Stimulation of the Nucleus Accumbens for Severe Self-Injurious Behavior in Children: A Phase I Pilot Trial.
Gorodetsky C, Mithani K, Breitbart S, Yan H, et al · · 2025 · cited 7× · PMID 39645140 · DOI 10.1016/j.biopsych.2024.12.001 -
Deep Brain Stimulation in Pediatric Populations: A Scoping Review of the Clinical Trial Landscape.
Jung Y, Mithani K, Suresh H, Warsi N, et al · · 2025 · cited 4× · PMID 39756376 · DOI 10.1159/000543289 -
Regulation of autism-related self-injurious behavior by electrical stimulation of corticostriatal circuits in mice and humans.
Zhang K, Germann J, Matin R, Mithani K, et al · · 2026 · PMID 41961929 · DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aeb5842 -
An Open-Label Prospective Pilot Trial of Nucleus Accumbens Deep Brain Stimulation for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Severe, Refractory Self-Injurious Behaviour: Study Protocol
Yan H, Siegel L, Breitbart S, Gorodetsky C, et al · · 2021 · DOI 10.21203/rs.3.rs-440618/v1
Verify or expand the search:
- PubMed search for NCT03982888
- Europe PMC full search
- ASCO Meeting Library
- ESMO Meeting Library
- bioRxiv preprints
- medRxiv preprints
- Google Scholar
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Verify against primary sources
- ClinicalTrials.gov — authoritative US registry record
- WHO ICTRP — international registry index
- EU Clinical Trials Register
- Sponsor press releases (Google)
- Trial protocol + status: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03982888 (US National Library of Medicine, public domain)
- Publications: Europe PMC API search by NCT ID, retrieved 10 June 2026
- Drug + disease cross-links: matched in real time against Drug Landscape's normalised drug + company + condition tables
- Sponsor: as reported to ClinicalTrials.gov by The Hospital for Sick Children
- Last refreshed: 22 February 2024
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/NCT03982888.
Primary sources · FDA · ClinicalTrials.gov · EMA · SEC EDGAR · ChEMBL · Wikidata · full sourcing