View clinical trials related to Epilepsies, Focal.
Filter by:Laser Induced Interstitial Thermal Therapy (LITT) is a "minimally invasive" procedure that uses the heat generated by a laser light (65°) to destroy brain lesions by coagulation leading to lesion necrosis under real-time MRI monitoring. The laser optical fiber is implanted into the lesion using stereotaxy. This technique, which can be performed under local anesthesia and on an outpatient basis, proved its efficacy and safety in the treatment of brain metastases for the first time in the world in 2006 (A. Carpentier et al, 2008, 2011). Since then, more than 5,000 patients have been treated in the USA, including for epileptogenic lesions (FDA device and CE cleared). Our goal is to evaluate LITT on lesions with drug-resistant epilepsy for which surgical resection is impossible. No therapeutic trial evaluating LITT in this indication has been performed to date. It is therefore necessary to study its feasibility and tolerance.
Focal epilepsy is associated with widespread alterations in structural brain connectivity, often present at the disease onset and related to learning disabilities. Whether ongoing seizure activity contributes to network pathology is a matter of debate. This study intends to measure the impact of seizures on structural connectivity on a local and on a global level. In children examined with intracerebral electrodes to evaluate whether a surgical cure can be proposed, we combine intracerebral stereotactic electroencephalography (EEG) recordings with diffusion weighted imaging of white matter fibers. On the local level, the study will quantify the number of deficient connections in the seizure onset zone. On a global level, the study will compare the white matter fibers of the left and right hemisphere to probe whether physiological language lateralization is preserved.