Frontlight ResearchEarly access
Taking people in United StatesNo phase
How young people with postural tachycardia syndrome process what they see
Tests a visual looming task in young people with postural tachycardia syndrome.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- Virginia Commonwealth University
- Where
- Richmond, United StatesSee the site
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Periaqueductal Gray-vagus Nerve Interface Malfunction Explain the Natural History With Its Numerous Co-morbidities?
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 36 people, planned
- Started
- 6 Mar 2023
- Expected to end
- Dec 2026
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groups
- Treatments tested
- Looming task
- Record updated
- 21 April 2026
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for girls and young women aged 12-21 with postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS), plus healthy girls and young women of similar age without POTS. It studies how the brain makes sense of things people see.
- Age
- 12 to 21 years
- Sex
- Females only
- Disease stage
- POTS group: diagnosed POTS, meaning a heart rate rise of 40 bpm or more on standing, with symptoms, and no drop in blood pressure. Healthy group: no POTS and no other nerve or brain disorder.
- Earlier treatment
- Cannot join if you had a drug or device that is not approved by regulators in the previous 30 days. Cannot join if you take hormones, except insulin, thyroid replacement or birth control pills.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Inflammatory arthritis, connective tissue or autoimmune disorder
- Any long-term nerve or brain disorder other than POTS, such as seizures, cerebral palsy, MS or stroke
- Unstable medical illness, such as kidney, liver, heart, diabetes (A1c > 9) or uncontrolled psychiatric illness
- Current drug or alcohol abuse, or long-term use of narcotics for pain
- Fear of closed spaces or metal in the body that may interfere with MRI
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 18 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Females 12-21 years old
- Able to communicate and provide consent/assent
- English speaking
- Diagnosed with POTS (POTS will be defined standardly as a symptomatic ≥ 40 bpm rise in heart rate without a drop in blood pressure and with symptoms of orthostatic intolerance clinically)
- Age-matched healthy control subjects: no POTS or other neurological disorders
Who cannot take part
- Treatment with a drug or medical device within the previous 30 days that has not received regulatory approval
- Any major surgical intervention with general anesthesia in the last 60 days and minor procedure, such as tooth extraction, endoscopy, etc., with local or conscious sedation within 7 days
- Inflammatory arthritis, connective tissue or auto-immune disorder
- Any chronic neurological disorder besides POTS
- Neuropathy, central nervous system disorder (e.g., Cerebral palsy, developmental delay, seizure disorder, MS, stroke, etc.)
- Any condition that in the judgment of the investigator would interfere with the patient's ability to provide informed consent, comply with study instructions, place the patient at increased risk, or which would clearly confound the interpretation of the study results (specific reason will be documented)
- Evidence of unstable medical disorder, such as kidney (rising creatinine, or end-stage renal failure) or liver impairment (rising AST or ALT, or end-stage with coagulopathy), poorly controlled significant cardiovascular (CHF), respiratory, endocrine (diabetes - A1c > 9 - or untreated thyroid dysfunction) or uncontrolled psychiatric illness (such as untreated depression, psychosis, etc.)
- Use of hormones (except insulin, thyroid replacement or oral contraceptives, which will be carefully documented)
- Current substance or alcohol abuse
- Any on-going or pending medical, health or disability related litigation, or current pursuit of disability
- Chronic use of narcotics for pain
- Claustrophobia or any metal hardware that may interfere with MRI
- Investigators and study staff
Check if you might fit
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 12 and 21 years old?
Where in United States
- Virginia Commonwealth UniversityRichmond, United StatesContact: Gisela Chelimsky, M.D.Taking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
This study is being conducted to see how people with Postural tachycardia syndrome (POTS) make sense of the things they see. The information may help doctors to learn more about how the different parts of people's brains communicate.
The 2 groups in the trial
- Adolescents with POTSOther group
Treatment: Looming task
- Adolescents without POTSOther group
Treatment: Looming task
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Pediatric POTS: Does a Periaqueductal Gray-vagus Nerve Interface Malfunction Explain the Natural History With Its Numerous Co-morbidities?
- Plain-language title
- How young people with postural tachycardia syndrome process what they seeGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 14 November 2026.
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT05618054, who can take part
- Record updated
- 21 April 2026