An Innovative Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment For Chronic Orofacial Pain
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Pain Reprocessing Therapy, Usual Therapy.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Chronic Primary Orofacial Pain (CPOP), Persistent Idiopathic Facial Pain (PIFP). Basic parameters: 18 years — 70 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Italy
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
Reprocessing The Fear Of Pain - A Cognitive-Behavioral Protocol For Chronic Primary Orofacial Pain Diseases.
Overview
Use these resources to provide understandable information about this study to patients, families, and health care providers: The present randomized clinical trial (RCT), conducted at the IRCCS Carlo Besta Neurological Institute, aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), a form of psychological support/psychotherapy based on cognitive-behavioral therapy, which has already proven effective in the treatment of other types of primary chronic pain. Chronic Primary Orofacial Pain (CPOP) is a rare and complex form of chronic pain that predominantly affects adult women and occurs without evident lesions, yet has a significant emotional and functional impact. It was recently classified among chronic primary pain conditions in the ICD-11 and is considered a form of nociplastic pain, associated with alterations in brain connectivity. At present, pharmacological treatments have shown limited effectiveness. This randomized clinical trial (RCT), conducted at the IRCCS Carlo Besta Neurological Institute, aims to evaluate the effectiveness of Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), a form of psychological support/psychotherapy based on cognitive-behavioral therapy, which has already proven effective in the treatment of other types of primary chronic pain. Sixty participants, all diagnosed with CPOP according to ICD-11 criteria, will be selected and randomly assigned to two groups: one will receive PRT, the other will receive treatment as usual (TAU). The primary outcome of the study is the assessment of pain intensity reduction. Secondary outcomes include a broad range of psychosocial variables: improvement in quality of life, reduction of anxiety-depressive symptoms, catastrophizing, and other psychopathological traits. The effects of the therapy on brain connectivity will also be analyzed using fMRI, and on pain neurophysiology through the Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM) paradigm. The protocol provides for the evaluation of therapy effectiveness at three follow-ups (3, 6, and 12 months) in order to measure the duration of effects. Finally, through advanced statistical analysis tools and the support of artificial intelligence, the study also aims to identify specific clinical-neurofunctional profiles that may be useful for differential diagnosis and for tailoring therapeutic interventions.
Interventions
- Behavioral Pain Reprocessing Therapy
One cohort of 30 patients (PRT+TAU group) will receive eight sessions of Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT) in addition to Treatment-as-Usual (TAU). PRT is a cognitive-behavioral-inspired approach aimed at helping patients reinterpret chronic pain as brain-generated rather than structurally caused. A second cohort of 30 patients (TAU group) will undergo the same assessment phases but will receive only Treatment-as-Usual without PRT. Use this module to add a description of each group or cohort in - Behavioral Usual Therapy
Patients undergo yhe usual pharmacological tretment as prescrived by neurologist
Primary outcome measures
- Average pain intensity over the past week. [Time frame: 12 months]
Secondary outcome measures (4)
- Quality of life (EUROHIS-8) [Time frame: 12 months]
- Depressive and anxiety symptoms (BDI-II, BAI) [Time frame: 12 months]
- Catastrophism (PCS) [Time frame: 12 months]
- Psychopathology (MCMI-III) [Time frame: 12 months]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- Diagnosis of Chronic Primary Orofacial Pain (CPOP) according to ICD-11 criteria.
- Patient-reported pain rating of 4 or higher out of 10 on the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) question assessing average pain over the past week, consistent with inclusion criteria from previous chronic pain studies.
- Written informed consent.
- Age 18 years or older.
Exclusion criteria
- Age over 70 years.
- Current use of immunosuppressive medications (e.g., steroids).
- History of cancer (breast, thyroid, prostate, blood cancers, etc.).
- History of stroke, neurosurgical interventions, or brain tumors.
- History of specific inflammatory diseases (lupus, scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis, polymyalgia rheumatica).
- History of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, personality disorders, dissociative identity disorder, or other severe psychoses.
- Unexpected or unintentional weight loss of 10 kg or more in the year prior to recruitment.
- Difficulty participating due to logistical problems.
- Contraindications to undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
- Psychotherapy treatment of any kind within 15 months prior to the assessment date.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Treatment
Study locations
Italy · 1 center
- Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico Carlo Besta — Milan
Publications
- Schmidt S, Muhlan H, Power M. The EUROHIS-QOL 8-item index: psychometric results of a cross-cultural field study. Eur J Public Health. 2006 Aug;16(4):420-8. doi: 10.1093/eurpub/cki155. Epub 2005 Sep 1. PMID 16141303
- Monticone M, Baiardi P, Ferrari S, Foti C, Mugnai R, Pillastrini P, Rocca B, Vanti C. Development of the Italian version of the Pain Catastrophising Scale (PCS-I): cross-cultural adaptation, factor analysis, reliability, validity and sensitivity to change. Qual Life Res. 2012 Aug;21(6):1045-50. doi: 10.1007/s11136-011-0007-4. Epub 2011 Sep 13. PMID 21912846
- Benoliel R, Svensson P, Evers S, Wang SJ, Barke A, Korwisi B, Rief W, Treede RD; IASP Taskforce for the Classification of Chronic Pain. The IASP classification of chronic pain for ICD-11: chronic secondary headache or orofacial pain. Pain. 2019 Jan;160(1):60-68. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001435. PMID 30586072
- Ashar YK, Gordon A, Schubiner H, Uipi C, Knight K, Anderson Z, Carlisle J, Polisky L, Geuter S, Flood TF, Kragel PA, Dimidjian S, Lumley MA, Wager TD. Effect of Pain Reprocessing Therapy vs Placebo and Usual Care for Patients With Chronic Back Pain: A Randomized Clinical Trial. JAMA Psychiatry. 2022 Jan 1;79(1):13-23. doi: 10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2021.2669. PMID 34586357
- Benoliel R, Gaul C. Persistent idiopathic facial pain. Cephalalgia. 2017 Jun;37(7):680-691. doi: 10.1177/0333102417706349. Epub 2017 Apr 20. PMID 28425324
- Nicholas M, Vlaeyen JWS, Rief W, Barke A, Aziz Q, Benoliel R, Cohen M, Evers S, Giamberardino MA, Goebel A, Korwisi B, Perrot S, Svensson P, Wang SJ, Treede RD; IASP Taskforce for the Classification of Chronic Pain. The IASP classification of chronic pain for ICD-11: chronic primary pain. Pain. 2019 Jan;160(1):28-37. doi: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001390. PMID 30586068
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07123233 · FACE-PRT · GR2024