Pain Phenotyping in Patients With Neuropathic Pain After Spinal Cord Injury
Key facts
- Who runs it
- University of Zurich
- Where
- Zurich, SwitzerlandSee the site
- Trial code
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 300 people, planned
- Started
- 17 Apr 2024
- Expected to end
- 30 Apr 2030
- Type of study
- Observational, 4 groups
- Treatments tested
- Neurophysiology
- Cardiovascular test
- Experimental pain paradigms
- Quantitative sensory testing
- Clinical pain phenotype
- Pupillometry
- Record updated
- 15 May 2026
Who can take part
- Age
- 18 years to 80 years
- Sex
- Women and men
- Healthy volunteers
- Can take part
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 27 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Spinal injury cohort - general inclusion criteria:
- Aged between 18-80 years
- Traumatic and non-traumatic etiology
- Para- and tetraplegic SCI
- Complete and incomplete SCI
- SCI with and without neuropathic pain
- Additional inclusion criteria for longitudinal study:
- SCI since less than one month
- Additional inclusion criteria for cross-sectional study:
- SCI since more than one year
- Control cohorts with peripheral neuropathy:
- General inclusion criteria:
- Aged between 18-80 years
- Neurological disorder affecting the peripheral nervous system (i.e., peripheral neuropathy)
- Peripheral neuropathy with or without neuropathic pain
- Additional inclusion criteria for longitudinal study:
- Peripheral neuropathy since less than one month
- Additional inclusion criteria for cross-sectional study:
- Peripheral neuropathy since more than one year
- Control cohorts without neuropathy / healthy volunteers
- General inclusion criteria:
- Aged between 18-80 years
- No medical condition affecting the peripheral and/or central nervous system (e.g., pain, systemic disease, psychological disorder)
Who cannot take part
- Medically manifested psychological disorder
- Medical condition affecting the peripheral and/or central nervous system other than the desired experimental condition (e.g., additional peripheral neuropathy in the SCI cohort)
- Inability to follow study instructions
- Pregnancy
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 18 and 80 years old?
Where in Switzerland
- Balgrist University HospitalZurich, SwitzerlandContact: Michèle Hubli, PD Dr.Taking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
The development of neuropathic pain is one of the most debilitating sequels after a spinal cord injury (SCI). The overall aim of this study is to investigate potential underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of neuropathic pain after SCI. The functionality of the nociceptive pathway in humans as well as its plastic changes following SCI will be inferred with sophisticated sensory and pain phenotyping using quantitative sensory testing (i.e., psychophysical measures), objective neurophysiological measures of pain processing and the recording of pain-related autonomic responses (i.e., galvanic skin response, cardiovascular measures and pupil dilation). In addition, the interplay between the somatosensory and autonomic nervous system and its association with the development and maintenance of neuropathic pain after SCI will be investigated.
The 4 groups in the trial
- Patients with spinal cord injury with neuropathic pain
Treatment: Neurophysiology, Cardiovascular test, Experimental pain paradigms, Quantitative sensory testing, Clinical pain phenotype, and Pupillometry
- Patients with spinal cord injury but without neuropathic pain
Treatment: Neurophysiology, Cardiovascular test, Experimental pain paradigms, Quantitative sensory testing, and Pupillometry
- Patients with peripheral neuropathy
Treatment: Neurophysiology, Cardiovascular test, Experimental pain paradigms, Quantitative sensory testing, Clinical pain phenotype, and Pupillometry
- Healthy subjects
Treatment: Neurophysiology, Cardiovascular test, Experimental pain paradigms, Quantitative sensory testing, and Pupillometry
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.
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT06443281, who can take part
- Record updated
- 15 May 2026