Active clinical trials for "Drug Resistant Epilepsy"

The investigators propose a behavioral experiment with SEEG recording and stimulation, to both confirm the role of a brain region known as the anterior insula in identifying surprise, and disambiguate between competing principles behind adaptation: optimizing and satisficing. Optimizers continue to learn and adapt if performance can be improved, while satisficers are satisfied with a good enough performance and will cease adapting once that is reached. To study surprise signals in the anterior insula, a brain structure where these signals have been very prominent, the investigators will employ an experiment with subjects who are under SEEG (stereoelectroencephalogram) recording, that is, recording from electrodes which have been surgically implanted in the brain. These recordings will be done as patients perform a task where they try to anticipate the movements of a target on a line in two different learning environments (conditions). The experimenters will then determine whether these signals reflect surprise relative to past engagement with the environment, or surprise that reveals that the agent no longer feels in control because uncertainty is not in line with the reference model. If evidence is consistent with the former, adaptation reflects traditional reinforcement and aims at optimizing behavior. If evidence instead is consistent with the latter, behavior is guided by a prior model (a reference model) and behavior is satisficing. An fMRI study by d'Acremont and Bossaerts provides initial evidence that activation in the anterior insula supports the satisficing hypothesis, however it lacks the temporal granularity to completely rule out optimizing. In the current project, the investigators propose to use the higher time resolution of SEEG recordings to confirm these findings and reject the optimizing hypothesis. Additionally, stimulations of the anterior insula during a subset of trials will be used to determine whether insular activation following surprise signals and preceding changes in behavior (learning) is merely correlational or in fact causal. Stimulation will allow us to determine to what extent the subjects' sense of control and subsequent behavior can be influenced in accordance with surprise-based modeling of behavior. The cohort for this study will be patients with drug-resistant, focal epilepsy and who are hospitalized at the Hôpitaux Universitaires de Genève (HUG) for pre-surgical evaluation of their epilepsy using SEEG. The protocol will run in parallel with the patients' clinical procedures.

An evaluation of the tolerance, compliance, acceptability and safety of a nutritionally complete liquid feed for use as part of the ketogenic diet (KD) in children 8+ years, adolescents and adults with intractable epilepsy or other disorders where the KD is indicated.

Over 1 million people in the European Union (EU) suffer from chronic refractory epilepsy. Their quality of life (QoL) is severely affected by seizures and by the adverse effect of antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment. Several new AEDs have been introduced in recent years, but their impact on the long-term outcome in these patients has been inadequately explored. Preliminary data from the U.S. suggests that using a standardize toll to quantitate adverse AED effects can improve outcome, but the general applicability of these findings is unclear. Objectives: 1) To assess prospectively AED utilization patterns in patients with refractory epilepsy ; 2) to assess how such treatments and other variables correlated with seizure control, adverse effects, and QoL in these patients; 3) to establish the impact of a standardized evaluation of adverse effects on clinical outcome. Methods: The project included a core observational study and a randomized intervention in a subcohort. In the core (observational) study, 1,000 consecutive refractory epilepsy patients were enrolled and followed-up prospectively at 10 centres in Italy. The following parameters were recorded at 0 (entry), 6, 12 and 18 months: (i) drug therapy; (ii) seizure frequency; (iii) adverse events based on medical examination and non-structured interview; (iii) treatment costs and, (iv) for patients above age 16, standardized questionnaires for adverse effects (AEP), depressive symptoms (Becks Depression Scale, BDS), QoL (QOLIE-31) and clinical global impression (CGI). The primary outcome (changes in QOLIE-31 scores) will be related to the other variables measured. In the randomized intervention, the subcohort meeting specific eligibility criteria (age >16 years, no progressive disorder, AEP score>=45 ) was randomized to two groups. In the intervention group, AEP score results were made available to the physician at each visit, while in the other group AEP scores were only made available at the end of follow-up. Primary outcome were changes in AEP score.

Refractory epilepsy patients implanted with a vagus nerve stimulator perform a memory test at baseline in three conditions: invasive vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) and sham stimulation. After 6 weeks of VNS treatment, the memory test is repeated in two condition: invasive vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) and sham stimulation. The endpoint of this experiment is assessing the effect of VNS and taVNS on memory performance.

Electroencephalography (EEG) with very high spatial resolution (HR-EEG, 256 electrodes) allow for better analysis of local and global activity of the cerebral cortex, as compared with conventional EEG. Since January 2012, the Neurology Department of CHU Rennes is the first clinical service in France equipped with such a system. Applied to HR-EEG recordings, brain connectivity methods are likely to provide essential information (in the form of "connectivity graphs") on cortical networks, either dysfunctional or not, involved in the generation of interictal paroxysms (like spikes or spike-waves) and during seizures. So far, many methods have been proposed (see for a review: Wendling et al., 2009; Wendling et al., 2010). However, since each method is highly sensitive to the type of model that is assumed for the underlying relationship between distinct brain regions (Ansari-Asl et al., 2006), none of them has yet demonstrated its effectiveness.

The Atkins Diet Modified (ADM) is the best alternative treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy, There is a high prevalence worldwide , especially in Latin American countries, including Mexico. Low income earners, many of which do not have a social security, must meet the high costs by Antiepileptic Drugs (AEDS), which in addition should be used in conjunction or combination therapy, because monotherapy is insufficient . The diet adkins makes some changes in the traditional food habits by others that are accessible and not necessarily expensive, whose mechanism allows for better control of the seizures.

The study will investigate the efficacy of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist ketamine as a first line agent in refractory status epilepticus versus traditional general anesthetic agents used for burst suppression that target the gamma-aminobutyric acid adrenergic receptors.

Evaluate the long-term clinical effectiveness and safety of the PINS Deep Brain Stimulation to patients with refractory epilepsy.

People with central lobe epilepsy (CLE), with seizures arising from the primary sensorimotor cortex, typically show a high rate of convulsive seizures that do not respond to anti-epileptic drugs, but have a large impact on quality of life. They often seek surgical relief, but since the area contains the body's indispensable sensorimotor representation, CLE surgery will lead to permanent functional deficits. Cortical stimulation case studies in CLE have shown seizure frequency reduction of more than 90%, but in our experience, stimuli in the central lobe can hardly be applied without interfering with motor function. The investigators propose cortical electrical stimulation therapy of a conceptually novel type. The investigators systematically determine individual stimulation settings, stimulation site and a seizure detection algorithm. In REC2Stim (Rational Extra-eloquent Closed-loop Cortical Stimulation), at the start of a seizure, a train of electric pulses is delivered to a nearby extra-eloquent area connected with the epileptogenic area within the sensorimotor cortex. Success will constitute a therapeutic modality for pharmaco-resistant patients with an epileptic focus in eloquent areas.

The purpose of the study is to obtain pilot data on safety and efficacy of ketogenic diet (KD) as adjunctive treatment of adults with refractory epilepsy. This will be an open label study comparing seizure frequency during 4 months of prospective baseline observation period with seizure frequency during 4 months of add-on KD treatment. 18-65 year old men and women with refractory epilepsy, defined as seizures persisting in spite of past/present treatments with ≥ 3 AEDs, with seizure frequency of ≥ 0.5/month, will be evaluated. Subjects with both primary generalized and localization-related epilepsy (PGE, LRE) will be recruited. Subjects will have had epilepsy for at least 2 years prior to enrollment. Following initial screening, subjects will be observed for 4 months, with no change in AEDs except when deemed necessary by the patient's neurologist according to standard clinical care. Patients will then start ketogenic diet. Evaluations will include seizure frequency using a seizure diary, adverse events, treatment compliance using urine and plasma ketone levels. Quality of life will be evaluated with a standardized questionnaire of Quality Of Life In patients with Epilepsy, QOLIE-31-P. Level of alertness will be evaluated with Epworth Sleepiness Scale. These questionnaires will be administered at each visit.