Clinical trial NCT01405859: MRI Study of Tic Remission in Tourette Syndrome
Official title: Neuroimaging to Elucidate the Mechanism of Tic Resolution in Tourette Syndrome
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Conditions: Tourette Syndrome
Keywords: Tourette
tic
Tourette's
Tourette syndrome
Tourette's syndrome
Lead sponsor: University of Utah
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2011-07-29
Enrollment: 21
Sex: MALE
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 35
Standard ages: ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: yes
Observational model: CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective: CROSS_SECTIONAL
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Young adult males (aged 18-35) with a history of Tourette syndrome, including at least moderate disability from tics during childhood.

Brief summary: Doctors provide a ray of hope to children and their parents with the knowledge that, for most patients, symptoms of Tourette syndrome improve by the time they are young adults. The investigators do not know why some improve and others do not. This study is designed to help answer that question. The investigators will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques to test whether individuals who experience improvement of their Tourette's (tic remission) have more mature brain connections than those who do not.

Detailed description: One of the most interesting aspects of Tourette syndrome is a virtual remission of tics by early adulthood in about half of patients. Information is needed to clarify the mechanism of tic remission in order to guide development of better treatments for this disabling condition. For this cross-sectional study, 10 individuals with tic remission and 10 individuals with persistent Tourette syndrome are being recruited for a one-time study visit. 10 neurologically normal (non-TS) controls have also been recruited to obtain control neuroimaging data. All participants will complete a study questionnaire and a 60-minute MRI procedure. Sequences used to compare the groups will be volumetric, diffusion tensor, resting state functional connectivity MRI and MR spectroscopy. Our primary hypothesis is that the pattern of functional connectivity in individuals with tic remission will be more mature than that of those with persistent tics. Secondary hypotheses tested will explore whether the other modalities can be used to differentiate tic remission from persistent TS.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

All subjects: males aged 18-35 with history of Tourette syndrome and at least moderately disabling tics during childhood.

Persistent Tourette's subjects: history of disabling tics during childhood but no longer taking tic suppressing drugs.

Tic remission subjects: no longer experiencing any disability (even social discomfort) from tics. Must have had sustained improvement of tics for at least 3 years.

Normal controls: no longer recruiting.

Exclusion Criteria:

Tourette's subjects still taking tic suppressing drugs are excluded. Also excluded are any patients with a condition (such as a pacemaker, recent tattoo, implantable metal device, or claustrophobia) that could make the MRI examination unsafe.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Resting state functional connectivity
timeFrame: Participants come in for a one-time visit. All participants will be enrolled by July 2012. Data will be analyzed by Sept 2012.
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy
timeFrame: Participants come in for a one-time visit. All participants will be enrolled by July 2012. Data will be analyzed by Sept 2012.
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Salt Lake City
country: United States
facility: University of Utah
state: Utah
Study officials:
affiliation: Neurology
name: David Shprecher
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: