Active clinical trials for "Epilepsy"

The objective of the study is to quantify the number of cases of aseptic meningitis among users of Lamotrigine. This study is a cross-sectional study design using data on lamotrigine patients within the Thomson Reuters MarketScan® Commercial database (MarketScan database). The MarketScan database is a US-based insurance claims database representative of a US insured population and includes supplemental datao n Medicare patients. This cross-sectional study will evaluate the number of cases of aseptic meningitis among lamotrigine users during the duration of lamotrigine therapy, with an extended exposure window of 30 days after completing therapy. The MarketScan® Database is an US insurance claims database that is held in-house at GSK, which can be interrogated to examine rates of prescribing and medical conditions that can be captured via ICD-9 diagnoses codes. The MarketScan database captures person-specific clinical utilization, expenditures, and enrollment across inpatient, outpatient, prescription drug, and carve-out services from a selection of large employers, health plans, and government and public organizations. The annual medical databases include private sector health data from approximately 100 payers. In 2011, there were approximately 35 million patients on the database. The Commercial Claims and Encounters Database represents the medical experience of insured employees and their dependents for active employees, early retirees, COBRA continues, and their dependents insured by employer-sponsored plans (i.e., non-Medicare eligibles). In addition, a linked Medstat Medicare database contains predominantly fee-for-service plan data in insurance plans where both the Medicare-paid amounts and the employer-paid amounts were available and evident on the claims.The data are HIPAA compliant thus all patients have been anonymized.

This is a prospective, unblinded, non-randomized, descriptive study designed to collect ECG data.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the prevalence, characteristics and classification of headaches in epileptic patients.

Angiographies of the supra-aortic vessels by magnetic imaging have become common recently. So it was the purpose of this study to evaluate the imaging potential of different contrast agents. Three contrast agents for magnetic resonance imaging are compared in angiographies of the supra-aortic arteries in a intraindividual study of 10 patients. All applications of these contrast agents are performed with a flow of 2 ml/s. One contrast medium is applicated a second time with a reduced flow of 1 ml/s. The angiographies of the supra-aortic vessels are evaluated by two experienced readers in a consensus reading. The signal/noise- and contrast/noise-ratio of anatomic vessel segments of the carotic and vertebral arteries are measured and compared to each other.

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. Knowing these facts, researchers can use radioactive water (H215O) and PET scans to observe what areas of the brain are receiving more blood flow. This study is designed to use positron emission tomography (PET) with radioactive water (H215O) to determine the areas of the brain associated with memory and language. Patients participating in the study will be made up of normal volunteers, patients with epilepsy, and patients with other abnormalities related to the surface of the brain (non-epileptic focal cortical dysfunctions).

Many families of children with medically refractory epilepsy are choosing to use medicinal cannabinoids (MCBD) as an adjunctive alternative treatment option. The safety, tolerability and efficacy of these products are not known. The primary objective of this study is to determine how the use of MCBD affects children with medically refractory epilepsy in an observational study. Measures of evaluation to be used will include: laboratory values, developmental measures, seizure diaries and serial electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings.

The present study aims to expand the evidence base of neuropsychological services in the context of medical management of epilepsy, examining whether treatment outcome and patient satisfaction with medical care are significantly improved when neuropsychological evaluation is included as an additional component of medical care within a comprehensive epilepsy center. All participants will complete an initial survey and a follow-up survey regarding views towards their epilepsy treatment. Participants will be randomized into one of two groups. One group will be given a neuropsychological battery in addition to the survey. The primary study hypothesis is that the addition of neuropsychological services to treatment-as-usual will result in significant improvements in (a) satisfaction with medical care, (b) patient perceived treatment outcome, and (c) physician-rated medical compliance. The secondary hypothesis is that participants who undergo neuropsychological evaluation will be generally satisfied with their experience with neuropsychological services.

The initial goal is to ascertain the pharmacokinetic (PK) profile of CBD (cannabidiol) after a single dose of CBDE (cannabidiol extract), although the plan is to extend these studies to multiple dose administrations in the future, since it is likely that (cannabidiol) and/or its metabolites will show some accumulation. These studies will provide detailed information that will inform the continuation and expansion of CBDE in other research projects.

The aim of the study is to evaluate safety and efficacy of epilepsy surgery in the form of cortical resections in patients with refractory epilepsy and to review outcomes of resection procedures in focal epilepsy.

Surgery may be an effective therapy for refractory focal epilepsies with a clear delineated focus but surgical benefits are less clear for patients with a poorly defined focus such as non lesional refractory partial epilepsies. SEEG is considered the criterion standard to localize the epileptogenic zone (EZ) but the procedure is risky with a limited spatial sampling. The development of non-invasive neuroimaging alternatives is thus an important goal to improve EZ delineation and optimize SEEG procedures. The main hypothesis of this research project is the existence of a network organization specific for each patient which allows the generation and propagation of epileptic activities. The investigators wish to explore this network using diffusion tensor MRI to study structural connectivity and MEG/FMRI to study functional connectivity. The investigators will apply tools from the theories of complex networks and dynamical systems to characterize the network organization of epileptic process. The investigators aimed to identify and localize differences in connectivity parameters between individual patients and a control group of healthy volunteers.