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Pain clinical trials at UCSF

14 in progress, 10 open to eligible people

Pain is an uncomfortable feeling that tells you something may be wrong. UCSF is studying new ways to help people with chronic pain, including treatments like brain stimulation and group therapy. Other trials involve using ketamine for cancer pain and psilocybin for back pain. Veterans with chronic pain can also try weighted blankets.

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  • Closed-Loop Deep Brain Stimulation for Refractory Chronic Pain

    open to eligible people ages 22-80

    Chronic pain affects 1 in 4 US adults, and many cases are resistant to almost any treatment. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) holds promise as a new option for patients suffering from treatment-resistant chronic pain, but traditional approaches target only brain regions involved in one aspect of the pain experience and provide continuous 24/7 brain stimulation which may lose effect over time. By developing new technology that targets multiple, complimentary brain regions in an adaptive fashion, the investigators will test a new therapy for chronic pain that has potential for better, more enduring analgesia.

    San Francisco, California

  • Group-based Integrative Pain Management in Primary Care Safety Net Clinics

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    Socioeconomically disadvantaged populations have a high prevalence of chronic pain, exacerbated by social isolation, intersectional stigma, and disparities in pain assessment and treatment options. Effective interventions using a multilevel, biopsychosocial approach are needed to decrease the unequal burden of pain. The proposed study will test group-based integrative models of pain management in primary care safety net clinics to improve pain care for racially and ethnically diverse low-income patients.

    San Francisco, California

  • Ketamine-assisted Therapy for Advanced GI Cancer

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    This clinical trial evaluates whether it is possible to use a single dose of ketamine in combination with talk therapy to treat moderate to severe demoralization in patients with stage 3 or 4 gastrointestinal (GI) cancers who take opioids for cancer-related pain. Advanced stage gastrointestinal (GI) cancer patients often suffer from high rates of psychosocial distress and pain. Symptoms of anxiety are highly prevalent among gastrointestinal (GI) cancers patients. While opioid analgesia (pain reliever) succeeds in managing some symptoms, chronic opioid therapy is associated with significant adverse effects, underscoring a need to identify alternative interventions in the treatment of cancer associated pain. GI cancer patients frequently suffer from existential distress, and demoralization is a form of existential distress that is common among people with serious medical illnesses. Demoralization is characterized by poor coping with stressful events, and a loss of meaning and purpose in life. Talk therapy is a form of psychological treatment during which patients discuss problems, thoughts, and feelings. Ketamine has demonstrated efficacy for the treatment of depression, suicidality, and pain in non-cancer patients. This study may help researchers learn whether ketamine and talk therapy combined may improve psychosocial distress and pain, as well as decreases opioid analgesic use in patients with advanced GI cancer who take opioids for cancer-related pain.

    San Francisco, California

  • Pain and Opioids: Integrated Treatment In Veterans

    open to eligible people ages 21-75

    This trial will recruit veterans with chronic pain (N = 160) who are prescribed buprenorphine for the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD). We seek to: (1) examine the efficacy of an integrated treatment to reduce pain interference and substance misuse (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Mindfulness-Based Relapse Prevention [ACT + MBRP]) compared to an education control (EC) consisting of a protocol-based series of education sessions concerning chronic pain, opioids, and buprenorphine use and (2) examine how theoretically-relevant treatment mechanisms of pain acceptance, engagement in values-based action, and opioid craving are related to treatment outcomes. Interventions will be delivered via the VA Video Connect telehealth modality.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

  • Psilocybin Therapy for Chronic Low Back Pain

    open to eligible people ages 25-70

    This study evaluates whether psilocybin therapy helps patients cope with chronic low back pain more effectively. Patients may be recruited at Stanford and University of California San Francisco (UCSF), study procedures will occur at UCSF. Each participant will receive a dose of psilocybin with possibly one or more other drugs. Participants will undergo two preparation sessions, a dosing session, three integration sessions to discuss their psilocybin experience, and several follow up sessions.

    San Francisco, California

  • RCT of a Weighted Blanket to Reduce Pain in Veterans With Chronic Pain

    open to eligible people ages 18 years and up

    Chronic pain is a major health concern for returning Veterans and is associated with decreases in quality of life. In addition, chronic pain is often accompanied by significant disturbance in sleep. Sensory interventions may offer effective, low-cost complementary tools for chronic pain and sleep disturbance in Veterans. Weighted Blankets (WB)- blankets sewn with weighted material inside to provide widespread pressure to the body- are a low-cost wellness product used for anxiety and sleep. WBs have demonstrated large reductions in insomnia, and the investigators have also shown that they can reduce the severity of chronic pain. However, effects and mechanisms of longer WB use have not been examined in individuals with pain and sleep disturbance. The investigators therefore propose a randomized controlled trial examining the effects of WBs on pain and sleep quality in Veterans. the investigators will recruit Veterans with chronic pain and sleep disturbance from the VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) and VA San Francisco Healthcare System (VASFHS) and randomize 160 Veterans to receive either a light (3-lb; N = 80) or heavy (15-lb; N = 80) blanket. The investigators will remotely collect measures of pain (primary), pain catastrophizing, and pain medication use, as well as sleep disturbance (primary) and sleep efficiency and total sleep time over 6 weeks of overnight home use of the assigned blanket. The investigators will also explore physiological effects of WBs on sleep quality using actigraphy (exploratory) in VASDHS participants. Ecological momentary assessment (EMA) methods will be deployed via smartphone to capture study adherence.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

  • Venlafaxine in Reducing Pain in Primary Total Knee Replacement

    open to eligible people ages 18-75

    Patients experience pain after their knee replacement surgery - and some may continue to experience persistent pain long after their knee replacement surgery. Traditional pain management strategies reply on pain medication such as opioids for pain control. However, these drugs do not work well for pain associated with movement or the the nerve pain (tingling, electrical sensations) after surgery. In addition, opioids are associated with significant side effects such as nausea, vomiting, respiratory depression, depression, cognitive dysfunction and risk of persistent opioid use. Neuropathic pain medications, such as venlafaxine are effective in managing nerve pain. Recent studies also support its potential role in acute pain management. Here, we propose a prospective randomized clinical trial 1) to evaluate the efficacy of Venlafaxine in reducing pain intensity and opioid consumption at post-operative day 1 (POD1) and 1- week after surgery, and 2) to examine whether the use of Venlafaxine will reduce the incidents of chronic postsurgical pain in TKA patients at 3-month time point.

    San Francisco, California

  • Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Chronic Neuropathic Pain

    open to eligible people ages 18-80

    Chronic neuropathic pain is defined as pain caused by a lesion or disease of the somatosensory nervous system. It is highly prevalent, debilitating, and challenging to treat. Current available treatments have low efficacy, high side effect burden, and are prone to misuse and dependence. Emerging evidence suggests that the transition from acute to chronic neuropathic pain is associated with reorganization of central brain circuits involved in pain processing. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a promising alternative treatment that uses focused magnetic pulses to non-invasively modulate brain activity, a strategy that can potentially circumvent the adverse effects of available treatments for pain. RTMS is FDA-approved for the treatment of major depressive disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and migraine, and has been shown to reduce pain scores when applied to the contralateral motor cortex (M1). However, available studies of rTMS for chronic neuropathic pain typically show variable and often short-lived benefits, and many aspects of optimal treatment remain unknown, including ideal rTMS stimulation parameters, duration of treatment, and relationship to the underlying pain etiology. Here the investigators propose to evaluate the efficacy of high frequency rTMS to M1, the region with most evidence of benefit in chronic neuropathic pain, and to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify alternative rTMS targets for participants that do not respond to stimulation at M1. The central aim is to evaluate the pain relieving efficacy of multi-session high-frequency M1 TMS for pain. In secondary exploratory analyses, the investigator propose to investigate patient characteristic that are predictive of responsive to M1 rTMS and identify viable alternative stimulation targets in non-responders to M1 rTMS.

    San Francisco, California

  • Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Stimulation for Chronic Low Back Pain

    open to eligible people ages 21-85

    As a leading cause of disability worldwide, chronic low back pain (cLBP) represents a significant medical and socioeconomic problem with estimated health care spending of $87 billion/annually. The efficacy of dorsal column electrical stimulation to inhibit pain was first described over 50 years ago. Since then, several large clinical trials have investigated the therapeutic potential of electrical spinal cord stimulation (SCS) and found that over 70% of patients with intractable pain had over 50% pain relief after 1 year of treatment. Thus, SCS is a promising therapeutic intervention that has superior patient outcomes when compared to traditional modalities for the treatment of cLBP. To date, SCS for treatment of cLBP has been delivered via epidural electrodes, requiring neurosurgical implantation. Although, the implantable stimulators have a low rate of adverse events, secondary complications associated with surgical intervention still occur.Transcutaneous spinal cord stimulation (tSCS) is a rapidly developing non invasive neuromodulation technique in the field of spinal cord injury. Its application potentiates lumbosacral spinal cord excitability enabling motor functions, (e.g. independent standing, postural control) in patients with chronic complete motor paralysis. Given that epidural and transcutaneous SCS activate similar neuronal networks, tSCS for cLBP treatment may be advantageous due to its non-invasive nature which may also allow for a mass market production and rapid patient availability if tSCS is proven efficacious. In this pilot study we will establish the feasibility of tSCS to acutely improve patient reported outcomes (pain scores) and several objective measures, including sit-to-stand biomechanics, neurophysiological and neuroimaging outcomes.

    San Francisco, California

  • Valacyclovir in Pain Management of Acute Apical Abscesses

    open to eligible people ages 18-80

    The Virus in Endodontics (VE) phase I pilot study for preoperative pain will be analyzed and adjusted for the Phase II clinical trial. The Phase II clinical trial on preoperative pain, postoperative pain, and clinical healing will involve 250 patients. Patients will be recruited from the same pool of participants as the Phase II clinical trial. Preoperative cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) scans will be taken as well as three and six month postoperative CBCT scans. The secondary outcomes form the Phase II randomized clinical trial will be clinical success and visible radiographic healing determined by CBCT images.

    San Francisco, California

  • Closed-loop Deep Brain Stimulation to Treat Refractory Neuropathic Pain

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    Deep brain stimulation (DBS) holds promise as a new option for patients suffering from treatment-resistant chronic pain, but current technology is unable to reliably achieve long-term pain symptom relief. A "one-size-fits-all" approach of continuous, 24/7 brain stimulation has helped patients with some movement disorders, but the key to reducing pain may be the activation of stimulation only when needed, as this may help keep the brain from adapting to stimulation effects. By expanding the technological capabilities of an investigative brain stimulation device, the investigators will enable the delivery of stimulation only when pain signals in the brain are high, and then test whether this more personalized stimulation leads to reliable symptom relief for chronic pain patients over extended periods of time.

    San Francisco, California

  • Integrating Nonpharmacologic Strategies for Pain With Inclusion, Respect, and Equity

    Sorry, not yet accepting patients

    INSPIRE creates a trilingual mobile app and telehealth coaching program to promote non-pharmacologic strategies for pain management with Black, Chinese, and Latinx communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Years 1-2 will develop the app and test it with a brief single arm pilot starting in Nov 2023. A full two arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) will being in early 2025 with changes in PEG scores as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes include Helping to End Addiction Longterm (HEAL) common data elements.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

  • Mindfulness Based Pain Reduction

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    This is a development study with clinical outcomes. The investigators aim to develop and test an 8-week MBPR (Mindfulness-Based Pain Reduction) program, which draws on intervention work and clinical experience in the investigative team to optimize a mindfulness-based intervention for individuals with chronic pain. The overall goal of this study is to ensure that the MBPR program has been carefully refined and manualized in an in-person setting before performing clinical trials comparing MBPR to MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) to test whether it improves pain outcomes. This study includes a Pain Attention Task that separates insula activation during experimental heat application between different pain attention conditions.

    San Francisco, California

  • BEST Trial: Biomarkers for Evaluating Spine Treatments

    Sorry, in progress, not accepting new patients

    The BEST Trial (Biomarkers for Evaluating Spine Treatments) is a NIAMS-sponsored clinical trial being conducted through the NIH HEAL Initiative's Back Pain Consortium (BACPAC) Research Program. The primary objective of this trial is to inform a precision medicine approach to the treatment of Chronic Low-Back Pain by estimating the optimal treatment or combination of treatments based on patient features and response to the initial treatment. Interventions being evaluated in this trial are: (1) enhanced self-care (ESC), (2) acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), (3) evidence-based exercise and manual therapy (EBEM), and (4) duloxetine.

    San Francisco, California and other locations

Our lead scientists for Pain research studies include .

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