TMS for Smoking Cessation in PLWHA Cessation in People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA)

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Craving
Smoking Cessation
HIV

Interventions: Device: iTBS
Device: TMS

Registration Number: NCT04936594

Lead Sponsor: Gopalkumar Rakesh

Brief Summary: The pilot study proposal aims to modulate craving and attentional bias towards smoking cues in 40 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), with functional MRI (fMRI) brain correlates. TMS is a form of noninvasive brain stimulation and modulates neural activity using tiny doses of focused electricity. For the study, participants would perform two cognitive tasks and neuroimaging before and after the TMS and investigators would compare changes in these paradigms with TMS. The investigators will also get a point of contact urine drug screen before study initiation. The investigators will aim to recruit 20 subjects in each arm of our trial (total of 40) from the BlueGrass HIV Clinic.

Detailed Description: People living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) smoke at nearly three times the rate of the general population. These extraordinary smoking rates are associated with greater AIDS-related cancer, non-AIDS related morbidity including non-AIDS-defining cancer, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, and mortality. Smoking significantly impacts the progression and outcome of HIV disease and has been identified as the leading contributor to premature mortality in PLWHA. Suboptimal results with current smoking cessation strategies makes identifying new adjunct strategies an area of need. The pilot study proposal aims to modulate craving and attentional bias towards smoking cues in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), with functional MRI (fMRI) brain correlates. TMS is a form of noninvasive brain stimulation and modulates neural activity using tiny doses of focused electricity. The TMS paradigm we would be performing is called theta burst stimulation (TBS), which is potent, short, and efficient. It has shown to cause neuroplasticity even with a single session and was approved by the FDA for treatment of major depressive disorder in 2019.

Targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) by using MNI coordinates (-44,40,29) via Brainsight Neuronavigation will modulate craving and attentional bias that is closely associated with craving. For this pilot study, 40 participants will perform the attentional bias task, craving scale and neuroimaging before and after the TBS/ sham TMS session, to compare changes in these paradigms between these interventions. Attentional bias would be measured with eye tracking, craving will be assessed with tobacco craving questionnaire (TCQ-SF). The investigators will aim to recruit 10 subjects from the BlueGrass HIV Clinic, who have an established pipeline for enrolling PLWHA patients in clinical trials. Although there is limited data on TMS in smoking, there have been no TMS studies done in PLWHA

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 9

Inclusion Criteria

Patients enrolled in the Bluegrass Clinic
Confirmed chart diagnosis of a HIV and receiving HIV treatment at the participating HIV clinic
Age 18-60 years
Preferably right hand dominant
Currently self-report smoking 10 of more cigarettes per day or a score of > 5 on the Fagerstrom Test for Nicotine
Willing and able to abstain from all drug use
Exhaled breath on day of study Carbon Monoxide < 10 ppm
Stabilized on maintenance buprenorphine if having comorbid opioid use disorder
Able to read and speak English
Able to provide informed consent to participate.

Exclusion Criteria

Pregnant, nursing, or becoming pregnant during the study
History of traumatic brain injury or seizures which are contraindications for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)
Increased risk of seizure for any reason, including prior diagnosis of epilepsy, seizure disorder, increased intracranial pressure, or history of significant head trauma with loss of consciousness for ≥ 5 minutes which are all contraindications for TMS
Presence of intracranial implants (e.g. aneurysms clips, shunts, stimulators, cochlear implants, or electrodes), cardiac pacemakers, or vagus nerve stimulation device which are all contraindications for magnetic resonance imaging
Neurological disorder including, but not limited to: space occupying brain lesion; any history of seizures, history of cerebrovascular accident; fainting, cerebral aneurysm, major neurocognitive disorder, Huntington chorea; multiple sclerosis which are all contraindications for TMS.

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: SINGLE_GROUP

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
People Living with HIV/AIDS Who Smoke	iTBS	Participants will be people living with HIV/AIDS who smoke. They will receive two interventions: iTBS and a sham comparator (TMS).
People Living with HIV/AIDS Who Smoke	TMS	Participants will be people living with HIV/AIDS who smoke. They will receive two interventions: iTBS and a sham comparator (TMS).

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Attentional Bias iTBS Paraphernalia	baseline and immediately after intervention, approximately 4 hours	Cues Encompassing Cigarette Paraphernalia. Measured after iTBS using visual probe task (adapted for smoking images) administered on a computer and eye tracker. Images of cigarette paraphernalia and a matched neutral cue were presented on a laptop screen, 3 cm apart. Upon offset of the image pairs, a visual probe (X) appeared on either the left side or right side of the screen, in the same location as one of the previously presented images. Attentional bias is quantified using fixation time on cigarette and neutral cues, via an eye tracker in milliseconds
Change in Attentional Bias Sham Smoking	baseline and immediately after intervention, approximately 4 hours	Cues Encompassing People Smoking Cigarettes. Measured after sham using visual probe task (adapted for smoking images) administered on a computer and eye tracker. Images of smoking and a matched neutral cue were presented on a laptop screen, 3 cm apart. Upon offset of the image pairs, a visual probe (X) appeared on either the left side or right side of the screen, in the same location as one of the previously presented images. Attentional bias is quantified using fixation time on cigarette and neutral cues, via an eye tracker in milliseconds
Change in Attentional Bias Sham Paraphernalia	baseline and immediately after intervention, approximately 4 hours	Cues Encompassing Cigarette Paraphernalia. Measured after sham using visual probe task (adapted for smoking images) administered on a computer and eye tracker. Images of cigarette paraphernalia and a matched neutral cue were presented on a laptop screen, 3 cm apart. Upon offset of the image pairs, a visual probe (X) appeared on either the left side or right side of the screen, in the same location as one of the previously presented images. Attentional bias is quantified using fixation time on cigarette and neutral cues, via an eye tracker in milliseconds
Change in Attentional Bias iTBS (Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation) Smoking	baseline and immediately after intervention, approximately 4 hours	Cues Encompassing People Smoking Cigarettes. Measured after iTBS using visual probe task administered (adapted for smoking images) on a computer and eye tracker. Images of smoking and a matched neutral cue were presented on a laptop screen, 3 cm apart. Upon offset of the image pairs, a visual probe (X) appeared on either the left side or right side of the screen, in the same location as one of the previously presented images. Attentional bias is quantified using fixation time on cigarette and neutral cues, via an eye tracker in milliseconds

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Change in Tobacco Craving Questionnaire Short Form (TCQ-SF) iTBS	baseline and immediately after intervention, approximately 4 hours	Craving measured using TCQ-SF. The Tobacco Craving Questionnaire-short form (TCQ-SF) consists of 12 items rated on a visual analogue scale from 0 to 84 with a higher score equating to increased craving.
Change in Tobacco Craving Questionnaire Short Form (TCQ-SF) Sham	baseline and immediately after intervention, approximately 4 hours	Craving measured using TCQ-SF. The Tobacco Craving Questionnaire-short form (TCQ-SF) consists of 12 items rated on a visual analogue scale from 0 to 84 with a higher score equating to increased craving.