View clinical trials related to Epilepsies, Partial.
Filter by:A 12-week Evaluation Period will be used to characterize potential cognitive and neuropsychological effects of LEV (20 - 60 mg/kg/day), as adjunctive treatment in children 4 - 16 years old, inclusive, with refractory partial onset seizures when compared to adjunctive treatment with placebo.
This study will examine the possible structural and functional abnormalities in patients with an inherited form of epilepsy. It will use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Uncontrolled epilepsy is a serious neurological problem with major harmful medical, social, and psychological effects, as well as greater mortality compared with the general population. The cost per year in the United States is at least $12.5 billion. There have been advances in diagnosing the disease, but the cause cannot be determined in many cases. Recently, several seizure syndromes found in families have been described. One syndrome of particular interest involves the lateral temporal lobe of the brain and often includes auditory features. Patients with that kind of syndrome may hear monotonous unformed sounds, but sometimes they may hear complex sounds, such as a song. Patients are eligible for this study if they have a specific form of familial epilepsy that is being studied at Columbia University in New York. Family members without seizures are eligible as well. All the patients in the study will be evaluated at Columbia before participating. Healthy volunteers aged 18 to 55 also may be eligible for this study. Participants will undergo a medical history and physical examination. During the study, they may have three or four sessions of MRI. During the MRI, patients will lie still on a table that can slide in and out of a metal cylinder surrounded by a strong magnetic field. Scanning time varies from 20 minutes to 3 hours, with most scans lasting between 45 and 90 minutes. Patients may be asked to lie still for up to 60 minutes at a time. As the scanner takes pictures, there will be loud knocking noises, and the patients will wear earplugs to muffle the sound. Patients will be able to communicate with the MRI staff at all times during the scan and may ask to be moved out of the machine at any time. Some scans may be done in a 3 Tesla scanner. It is the latest advance in MRI, with a stronger magnetic field than in the more common 1.5 Tesla scanner. Functional MRI (fMRI) is done while patients are performing tasks, such as moving a limb or speaking. Patients will have an opportunity to practice such tasks before entering the scanner. The fMRI will take about 1 hour.
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.
This study will evaluate the safety and effectiveness of oxcarbazepine (Trileptal) as add-on therapy in the treatment of partial seizures in pediatric patients 1 month to 3 years of age.
Patients in this study will undergo PET scans (a type of nuclear imaging test) to look for abnormalities in certain brain proteins associated with seizures. Studies in animals have shown that serotonin-a chemical messenger produced by the body-attaches to proteins on brain cells called 5HT1A receptors and changes them in some way that may help control seizures. There is little information on these changes, however. A new compound that is highly sensitive to 5HT1A, will be used in PET imaging to measure the level of activity of these receptors and try to detect abnormalities. Changes in receptor activity may help determine where in the brain the seizures are originating. Additional PET scans will be done to measure the amount of blood flow to the brain and the rate at which the brain uses glucose-a sugar that is the brain's main fuel. Blood flow measurement is used to calculate the distribution of serotonin receptors, and glucose use helps determine how seizures affect brain function. The information gained from the study will be used to try to help guide the patient's therapy and determine if surgery might be beneficial in controlling the patient's seizures.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive technique that can be used to stimulate brain activity and gather information about brain function. It is very useful when studying the areas of the brain related to motor activity (motor cortex, corticospinal tract, and corpus callosum). Epilepsy is a condition associated with seizures as a result of an over excitable cerebral cortex. Despite the introduction of several new antiepileptic medications, less than half of the patients diagnosed with partial epilepsy are well controlled. However, studies have shown that non-invasive stimulation of the brain can decrease the excitability of the cerebral cortex. Researchers are interested in the potential therapeutic effects of TMS on patients with epilepsy that have responded poorly to standard medication. This study will use TMS to decrease the excitability of the areas of the brain responsible for seizures.
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