Clinical trials
A clinical trial is a scientific study carried out in human medical therapeutics to assess the efficacy and safety of a diagnostic method or treatment.
These studies are often carried out after pre-clinical experimental studies (on animal or cell models) to confirm their relevance and safety. They also require the agreement of the health and ethics authorities in the country where they are carried out.
Clinical trials are carried out as part of Clinatec research projects supported by the Fonds and its sponsors.
CoveaNeurotec / Tiroc
Sponsor: University Hospital, Grenoble
Collaborator: Fonds de Dotation Clinatec
May 2023
Effect of Transcranial Near InfraRed Light On Cerebral Function in Young and Healthy Older Subjects: a fMRI Study (TIROC)
Numerous studies have shown that the extra-cranial application of near infrared light (λ=600-1000nm) (also called transcranial photobiomodulation or tPBM), has a positive impact on brain function in both humans and experimental animal models and a neuroprotective effect in animal models. Several of these studies have reported that tPBM could impart more beneficial effects in aged or diseased brains. The primary objective of this study is to use fMRI to compare the cerebral activations in response to a finger tapping motor task, before and after 24min of tPBM versus sham stimulation, in old and young healthy human subjects.
The hypothesis of the investigators is that tPBM improves brain function in participants who will be treated using the active device in comparison with those treated with the sham device and that this effect should will be more pronounced in the older subjects.
BSI/UP2
Sponsor: Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Collaborator : Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives
Dec. 2022
Brain Controlled Spinal Cord Stimulation in Participants With Cervical Spinal Cord Injury for Upper Limb Rehabilitation (UP2)
Cervical spinal cord stimulation can elicit arm and hand movements through recruitment of proprioceptive neurons in the dorsal roots. In participants with cervical spinal cord injury, the spare roots bellow the lesion can be used to reactivate motor function. Decoding of motor intentions can be achieved through implantable electrocorticography (ECoG) devices.
In this study, the investigators will use an investigational system using ECoG signal recording over the motor cortex to drive muscle specific electrical epidural spinal cord stimulation (EES). The investigators will assess the safety and preliminary efficacy of this system in 3 participants.
NIR Parkinson
View study Ev-NIRT : NCT 04261569
Sponsor : University Hospital, Grenoble
Collaborator : Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives
Feb. 2020
Clinical Trial for Near Infrared Endoventricular Illumination for Neuroprotection in Very Early Cases of Parkinson’s Disease (Ev-NIRT)
Parkinson’s disease has only pharmacological (essentially dopaminergic) and surgical treatment (essentially high-frequency deep brain stimulation), that are symptomatically effective. none of them is curative, and has the ability to slow down the disease and to protect dopaminergic neurons from death by neurodegeneration. Experimental results, based on preclinical studies, suggest that brain illumination in the Near-InfraRed (NIR) range is likely to slow down this neurodegenerative process.
Thus, a medical device system (called Ev-NIRT) has been developed for 670 nm intracerebral illumination of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), and is planned to be tested for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease.
In this pilot study the investigators will evaluate the feasibility and tolerance of surgery and brain illumination thanks to the Ev-NIRT medical device, in a group of 7 de novo Parkinson’s patients implanted with the innovative medical device. Patients will be monitored for 4 years.
STIMO-BSI
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Collaborator : Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives
Nov. 2017
Brain-controlled Spinal Cord Stimulation in Patients With Spinal Cord Injury (STIMO-BSI)
In a current first-in-human study, called Stimulation Movement Overground (STIMO, NCT02936453), Epidural Electrical Stimulation (EES) of the spinal cord is applied to enable individuals with chronic severe spinal cord injury (SCI) to complete intensive locomotor neurorehabilitation training. In this clinical feasibility study, it was demonstrated that EES results in an immediate enhancement of walking function, and that when applied repeatedly as part of a neurorehabilitation program, EES can improve leg motor control and trigger neurological recovery in individuals with severe SCI to a certain extent (Wagner et al. 2018).
Preclinical studies showed that linking brain activity to the onset and modulation of spinal cord stimulation protocols not only improves the usability of the stimulation, but also augments neurological recovery. Indeed, rats rapidly learned to modulate their cortical activity in order to adjust the amplitude of spinal cord stimulation protocols. This brain-spine interface allowed them to increase the amplitude of the movement of their otherwise paralyzed legs to climb up a staircase (Bonizzato et al. 2018). Moreover, gait rehabilitation enabled by this brain-spine interface (BSI) augmented plasticity and neurological recovery. When EES was correlated with cortical neuron activity during training, rats showed better recovery than when training was only supported by continuous stimulation (Bonizzato et al. 2018). This concept of brain spine-interface was validated in non-human primates (Capogrosso et al. 2016).
Clinatec (Grenoble, France) has developed a fully implantable electrocorticogram (ECoG) recording device with a 64-channel epidural electrode array capable of recording electrical signals from the motor cortex for an extended period of time and with a high signal to noise ratio the electrical signals from the motor cortex. This ECoG-based system allowed tetraplegic patients to control an exoskeleton (ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02550522) with up to 8 degrees of freedom for the upper limb control (Benabid et al. 2019). This device was implanted in 2 individuals so far; one of them has been using this system both at the hospital and at home for more than 3 years.
We hypothesize that ECoG-controlled EES in individuals with SCI will establish a direct bridge between the patient’s motor intention and the spinal cord below the lesion, which will not only improve or restore voluntary control of leg movements, but will also boost neuroplasticity and neurological recovery when combined with neurorehabilitation.
BCI
Sponsor : University Hospital, Grenoble
Collaborator : Commissariat à l’Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives
Sept 2015
Brain Computer Interface: Neuroprosthetic Control of a Motorized Exoskeleton (BCI)
Injuries to the cervical spine and to its contents, the spinal cord, cause serious neurological deficits, with loss of motor function and sensitivity of the four limbs, resulting in quadriplegia. The level of the lesion separating the area without deficits, above the lesion, from the sub-lesional area depends on the extent of the spine injury (dislocation, fracture or trauma without final displacement), may cause spinal cord injuries of varying severity, which can range from the benign to a complete section that results in complete and irreversible sensorimotor deficits. Lesions from C1 to C4 are often immediately fatal or cause diaphragmatic paralysis (innervated by the phrenic nerve whose roots originate at C4). C4-C5 paraplegia and below are therefore compatible with life as they spare respiratory autonomy, although they lead to severe permanent disabilities, creating a state of severe dependence in subjects who are often young.
The problems created by these patients are those of an extremely heavy individual, family, and societal burden in addition to the individual drama. While paraplegics, by maintaining their motor skills and sensitivity of both upper limbs and back muscles can often reintegrate and find remarkable mobility with wheelchairs, this is not the case of quadriplegics who must be provided with substitutes in order to achieve an acceptable quality of life. This project offers a highly innovative approach by means of a motorized exoskeleton that enables standing, walking and the use of the upper extremities. The validation of the first step of this concept will pave the way for developing increasingly sophisticated exoskeletal neuroprostheses, aimed at giving these patients compatible and ever greater autonomy.