Active clinical trials for "Epilepsy"

Focal cortical dysplasia is one of the most common lesions responsible for medically refractory epilepsy in the pediatric population. In patients with medically intractable epilepsy, surgery is the only treatment that will lead to seizure freedom. The outcome of epilepsy surgery is worse in patients when there is no lesion identified on routine structural MRI, also known as MRI-negative partial epilepsy. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a novel MRI technique, can be used to evaluate the integrity of the microstructure of the white matter, even when the white matter appears normal on routine MRI.

The purpose of this study is to collect subject data to evaluate the rate of sudden unexplained death in epilepsy (SUDEP) with bilateral neurostimulation of the anterior nucleus of the thalamus in people diagnosed with refractory epilepsy. The data obtained from the physician initiated studies will be pooled with data collected in Medtronic-sponsored studies to assess SUDEP risk.

The purpose of this study is to find the genes that cause Rolandic epilepsy and its related traits.

The purpose of this study is to find out how often major mood swings occur in patients treated in a specialty epilepsy center.

This study will evaluate the magnetoencephalography (MEG) alone and together with electroencephalography (EEG) in non-invasive presurgical evaluation. It will look at the contribution of those methods in determining the location of the epilepsy seizure, compared with doing so through an invasive method. EEG measures electronic potential differences on the scalp. On the other hand, MEG is a non-invasive technique for recording the activity of neurons in the brain, through recording of magnetic fields caused by synchronized neural currents. It has the ability to detect seizures. Because magnetic signals of the brain vary, this technique must balance two key problems: weakness of the signal and strength of the noise. The EEG is sensitive to extra-cellular volume currents, whereas the MEG primarily registers intra-cellular currents. Because electrical fields are quite dependent on the conductive properties of the tissues, and magnetic fields are significantly less distorted by tissue, the MEG has better spatial resolution. There is a great deal of evidence that EEG and MEG provide complementary data about underlying currents of ions. Patients 18 years of age or older who have epilepsy that is not relieved, and who are considered candidates for surgery and who accept epilepsy surgery, may be eligible for this study. Before they have surgery, participants will either sit or lie down, with their head in a helmet covering the entire head, with openings for the eyes and ears. Brain magnetic fields will be recorded with a 275-channel OMEGA system. Throughout the session, visual and two-way audio communication will be maintained with the patient. Acquiring data from the participant will be conducted during several sessions, each lasting from 10 to 60 minutes, not exceeding a total of 120 minutes. If the first recording is not of sufficient quality, the patient may have it repeated once or twice. Those participants who are found to have a clear seizure focus will proceed directly to surgery that is part of their treatment. Those whose seizure focus is ambiguous will proceed to invasive monitoring. Participants will be followed in the outpatient clinic at intervals of 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. They may periodically undergo reimaging as considered appropriate.

The purpose of this study is to study how disease processes like tumors or epilepsy spread in the brain.

This study is designed to use positron emission tomography to measure brain energy use. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) is a technique used to investigate the functional activity of the brain. The PET technique allows doctors to study the normal processes of the brain (central nervous system) of normal individuals and patients with neurologic illnesses without physical / structural damage to the brain. When a region of the brain is active, it uses more fuel in the form of oxygen and sugar (glucose). As the brain uses more fuel it produces more waste products, carbon dioxide and water. Blood carries fuel to the brain and waste products away from the brain. As brain activity increases blood flow to and from the area of activity increases also. Researchers can label a sugar with a small radioactive molecule called FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose). As areas of the brain use more sugar the PET scan will detect the FDG and show the areas of the brain that are active. By using this technique researchers hope to answer the following questions; 4. Are changes in brain energy use (metabolism) present early in the course of epilepsy 5. Do changes in brain metabolism match the severity of patient's seizures 6. Do changes in metabolism occur over time or in response to drug therapy

The goal of this observationnal study is to identify the informative and educational needs of epilepsy patients to avoid interrupting the therapeutic pathway. The main question it aims to answer are : Identify the patient's expectations of a nurse specializing in epilepsy in the areas of information, predictive elements of good care and adaptation to their state of health Identify under-addressed or misunderstood themes Identify patient resources and interventions already in place Ensuring better continuity of care Improve the knowledge of patients and their relatives about the management of their pathology After a consultation with the neurologist (as part of their usual follow-up), the participants will be referred to a nurse for a semi-directive, individual interview, lasting 30 minutes and composed of open and closed questions. The announcement of the diagnosis, the quality of life or the factors contributing to the difficulties and their repercussions on a daily basis will be discussed during the interview.

18F-Fluoro-deoxy-glucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) has a high sensitivity for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), the most common form of focal epilepsy, with a detection range of 86-90% . Therefore, 18F-FDG PET is a useful tool to identify the epileptogenic zone (ETZ) in the inter-ictal phase of drug-resistant temporal epilepsy during pre-surgical evaluation . Based on stereotactic electroencephalography (SEEG) findings, a correspondence between electrical data and metabolic changes on PET was found at the group level by identifying four different patterns of TLE . As expected, hypometabolism was not limited to the EZ defined by SEEG, but underlay broader epileptic networks . Because of the different electroclinical presentations of TLE, 18F-FDG PET appears to be a very useful tool in these temporal epilepsies. Indeed, it has been recently demonstrated that a gradient of PET hypometabolism from the uninvolved area to the spreading area, then to the epileptogenic area and to the lesion area is observed with consequently a good performance of 18F-FDG PET in defining the EZ . Therefore, it is interesting to study PET metabolism as a network and not as a combination of regional metabolic measures in epilepsy.

This is an expanded access use of Stiripentol in Dravet Syndrome or epileptic encephalopathies associated with sodium channel mutations who have failed other drugs in an effort to give them the best chance at seizure control and quality of life. As a treatment protocol and not a research study, children will only be monitored on a clinical basis for seizure improvement and side effects predominantly by parent and caregiver report.