Department of Anesthesiology

About Our Research Study​

Who can participate in this clinical trial?

Who is eligible?

  • Adults living with HIV between the ages of 18 and 65
  • Patients with neuropathic pain and an average pain score above 4 out of 10

Who is NOT eligible?

  • Patients currently taking opioids (except Tramadol, which is not disqualifying)
    • Patients on opioids may opt to participate in the control group rather than the experimental group
  • Pregnant or nursing persons
  • Patients with severe liver disease
  • Patients on dialysis
  • Patients with active drug or alcohol use disorders (marijuana use is not disqualifying)

What does being a study participant involve?

  • Study participants will either be in our experimental group, or our control group for about 13 weeks
  • The experimental group participants will take daily LDN and participate in 4 in-person visits, while control group participants will not
  • All participants will complete weekly pain scores and participate in telephone visits
  • Participants will receive compensation (details under the experimental group and control group sections below)

What do I have to do if I participate in the experimental group?

  • You will take daily LDN throughout the study period. This will be provided to you by the study team at your in-person visits
  • You will attend 4 in-person visits at an Emory site in Atlanta, GA
  • These visits will take place during weeks 1, 4, 8, and 12 of study participation
  • The first and last in-person visits will involve a blood draw
  • In-person visits may last approximately 1 hour
  • You will participate in 10 remote “visits.” Each remote “visit” is a brief phone call, up to 15 minutes
  • Experimental group participants will be compensated $100

What do I have to do if I participate in the control group?

  • You will only do remote “visits” during the 13 weeks of the study; no in-person visits will take place
  • You will NOT be given LDN. You will not have your blood drawn
  • Control group participants will be compensated $25

Addional Information:



Who Are We?

McKenzieBrownResearch

 

Principal Investigator:

Dr. McKenzie-Brown (shown right) works as a pain management physician at Emory. She works with many patients dealing with neuropathic pain, while some of her co-investigators work in infectious disease and with many patients living with HIV. After years of prescribing LDN as a treatment for neuropathic pain, Dr. McKenzie-Brown decided to start a clinical trial investigating use of LDN to treat  chronic neuropathic pain in patients living with HIV, with the support of her co-investigators.

Co-Investigators:

•    Dr. Vinita Singh, MD
•    Dr. Kimberly Workowski, MD
•    Dr. Igho Ofotokun, MD
•    Dr. Brian Bobzien, MD

 

Clinical Research Nurses:

•    Renee Atkins, BSN, RN
•    Katherine Egan, BSN, RN



Study Progress & Results

  • We have opened our study with a Community Engagement Element, administering surveys to learn about the community’s experience of living with HIV and chronic pain.
  • Clinical trial recruitment and enrollment is active as of Spring 2023.
  • We are committed to transparency and know some of our participants might want to read about clinical trial results once publication occurs. That may not happen for a while as research and publication takes a long time, but once we have published results, you can find them here!