View clinical trials related to Epilepsy.
Filter by:Post-traumatic seizures can appear frequently after a severe traumatic brain injury. Two types of seizures are usually identified: early seizures during the week following the trauma and late epilepsy afterward. Several antiepileptic drugs are usually used to prevent early seizures but no treatment has demonstrated any preventive effect against late epilepsy. Levetiracetam is an antiepileptic drug usually used for the treatment of epileptic patients and has pharmacologic properties that could also be interesting for the prevention of post-traumatic epilepsy.
The purpose of this research study is to compare the long term effectiveness, safety and tolerability of carisbamate compared to two other frequently prescribed anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) in patients with epilepsy.
The purpose of this study is to quantify the brain distribution of the nicotinic receptors in human volunteers and their alterations in patients suffering from neurological diseases such as Parkinson and Alzheimer diseases and familial epilepsy. This will be done using Postron Emission Tomography (PET) and a new radiotracer of the nicotinic receptors.
In up to 1 out of 3 patients with epilepsy, seizures continue to occur despite the use of one or more antiepileptic medications. Patients also have significant problems with side-effects of these medications as doses are increased. Our body naturally generates miniature pumps located on the surfaces of many organs to get rid of toxic substances, and antiepileptic medications can be considered by the cells of the body to be a toxin. Research with epileptic brain regions have shown an increase in the amount of drug pumps, therefore getting rid of antiepileptic drugs. One of these pumps is called p-glycoprotein (P-gp for short). Medications may be unable to penetrate and stay within the parts of the brain that need them them most. This may mean that the amount of drug is actually lower in the parts of the brain that cause seizures, and higher in the rest of the brain, which may be why patients may still feel side-effects when seizures are still occurring. Research in animals has shown that blocking the P-gp pumps can improve how bad, and how many seizures occur as well as the length of seizures. Blockage of the pumps can be done using a different type of medication. Some medications that are used for common problems have been discovered to also block P-gp pumps. One of these, carvedilol, is used to treat heart failure and high blood pressure. It has been found to be very safe in these patients, and does not have a lot of side-effects. We plan to add this medication in addition to patient's anti-seizure medications to see if it will improve epileptic seizures. The reason why some patients have high amounts of P-gp pumps and others do not may be related to their genetics. A simple blood test can be used to determine a person's potential to produce high quantities of the pumps. This study will also attempt to show that the genetics will affect how well the P-gp blocking will work.
This study will determine the safety and efficacy of pregabalin (Lyrica) when administered by itself (without any other anti-epileptic medication) to epilepsy subjects for the treatment of partial seizures. The duration of the trial is about 6 months.
This is a post-market medical device study. This study will compare best medical practice with or without adjunctive VNS Therapy in patients who are 16 years and older with pharmacoresistant partial epilepsy.
The investigators hypothesize that Levetiracetam is as effective as Sulthiame in the treatment of children with BECTS. Patients entering the HEAD-Studie are either treated with Leveitracetam or Sulthiame over a 6 months period. Patients are equally randomised to one of the two treatment regimens. Administration of medication as blinded capsules.
This study will investigate the role that a brain chemical called serotonin plays in seizures. Serotonin, present naturally in the brain, helps transmit signals between nerve cells. Glucose is a sugar that is the main fuel of the brain. Studying these two chemicals may help explain why people with epilepsy get seizures and are more likely to be depressed. Healthy volunteers and patients 18 to 60 years of age who have epilepsy with or without depression and whose seizures are not controlled by medication may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a review of their medical history, a physical examination and an electroencephalogram (EEG, brain wave recording). Participants undergo the following procedures: - Positron emission tomography (PET) scans: The first of three PET scans measures brain blood flow and the activity at some of the brain serotonin receptors (the parts of brain cells to which serotonin attaches). A second scan measures the amount of serotonin transported between brain cells. A third scan measures glucose use. The PET scanner is shaped like a doughnut. The subject lies on a bed that slides in and out of the scanner with his or her head inside the opening. A special mask is fitted to the subject s head to help keep it still during the procedure so the images will be clear. For the first scan, catheters (plastic tubes) are placed in an arm vein to inject a radioactive substance and in an artery in the wrist to collect blood samples. The other two scans require only the catheter in the arm. - Magnetic resonance imaging: This test uses a strong magnetic field and radio waves to obtain images of the brain. The scanner is a metal cylinder surrounded by a strong magnetic field. The subject lies on a table that can slide in and out of the cylinder. Most scans last between 45 and 90 minutes. Subjects wear earplugs to muffle loud knocking noises that occur during scanning. - Psychological evaluation: Subjects are interviewed and fill out questionnaires to help study sadness and depression in epilepsy. - Blood draw: Blood tests look for differences in genes between people with epilepsy who are depressed and those who are not.
This study is intended to investigate the safety and efficacy of a novel formulation of oxcarbazepine that is released more slowly than the current formulation. The study medication will be used as a treatment against partial epilepsy.
This is a double blind, placebo controlled, add-on clinical trial, of levetiracetam efficacy and safety, in epilepsy cluster seizure. Efficacy is evaluated in the range of 2 to 24 hours after taking the tablet. If the patient has a seizure during this interval, he is considered as a non-respondent patient.