View clinical trials related to Focal Cortical Dysplasia.
Filter by:Study RAD-GRIN-201 is a phase 1B/2A trial to assess safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK), and potential efficacy of radiprodil in participants with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) or Focal Cortical Dysplasia (FCD) type II. The study is open-label, so all participants will be treated with radiprodil. Subjects' participation in the study is expected to last up to six months in Part A and one year in Part B/long-term treatment period. The treatment period in Part B may be extended based on a favorable benefit/risk profile.
The goal of this first-in-human study is to evaluate a novel ultraflexible microelectrode in children undergoing neurosurgery to remove tissue that causes epilepsy (seizures) in focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) or long-term epilepsy-associated tumours (LEAT). The main questions it aims to answer are: 1. The safety and feasibility of the novel microelectrode into current operative workflow 2. The unique electrophysiological tissue signatures in FCD or LEAT
Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) is a malformation of brain development, the most common cause of drug-resistant epilepsy and often caused by mutations in mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) pathway genes. Patients with FCD develop drug-resistant seizures. This study will look at FCD tissue removed during epilepsy surgery and aims to detect mutations in mTOR pathway genes in brain cells. Secondly, the investigators will establish if evidence of mutations found in brain cells can also be detected as circulating free DNA (cfDNA) in blood. By looking at which genes are made into proteins in individual cells found in epilepsy surgical tissue (single cell expression profiling),the investigators will attempt to identify new genetic targets in FCD. The main outcome will be finding new causes of epilepsy with FCD and the development of new diagnostic and screening tools.
Refractory epilepsy, meaning epilepsy that no longer responds to medication, is a common neurosurgical indication in children. In such cases, surgery is the treatment of choice. Complete resection of affected brain tissue is associated with highest probability of seizure freedom. However, epileptogenic brain tissue is visually identical to normal brain tissue, complicating complete resection. Modern investigative methods are of limited use. An important subjective assessment during surgery is that affected brain tissue feels stiffer, however there is presently no way to determine this without committing to resecting the affected area. It is hypothesized that intra-operative use of a tonometer (Diaton) will identify abnormal brain tissue stiffness in affected brain relative to normal brain. This will help identify stiffer brain regions without having to resect them. The objective is to determine if intra-operative use of a tonometer to measure brain tissue stiffness will offer additional precision in identifying epileptogenic lesions. In participants with refractory epilepsy, various locations on the cerebral cortex will be identified using standard pre-operative investigations like magnetic resonance imagin (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). These are areas of presumed normal and abnormal brain where the tonometer will be used during surgery to measure brain tissue stiffness. Brain tissue stiffness measurements will then be compared with results of routine pre-operative and intra-operative tests. Such comparisons will help determine if and to what extent intra-operative brain tissue stiffness measurements correlate with other tests and help identify epileptogenic brain tissue. 24 participants have already undergone intra-operative brain tonometry. Results in these participants are encouraging: abnormally high brain tissue stiffness measurements have consistently been identified and significantly associated with abnormal brain tissue. If the tonometer adequately identifies epileptogenic brain tissue through brain tissue stiffness measurements, it is possible that resection of identified tissue could lead to better post-operative outcomes, lowering seizure recurrences and neurological deficits.
Focal Cortical Dysplasias (FCDs) are neurodevelopmental disorders that represent a major cause of early onset drug-resistant epilepsies with cognitive and behavioral impairments, carrying a lifelong perspective of disability and reduced quality of life. Despite a major medical and socio-economic burden, rationale therapeutic strategies are still under debate. Surgical removal of the epileptogenic brain area (Epileptogenic Zone) is the most successful treatment, yet it fails to control FCD-associated seizures in as much as 40% of cases. Precise definition and complete resection of the Epileptogenic Zone are the main determinants of outcome. In current practice of French centers, up to 80% FCD-patients require an intracranial EEG (icEEG) recording to accurately define the epileptogenic zone. However, the indications for icEEG in MRI-visible FCD remain empirical and are essentially based on expert opinion.
Brain somatic mutations in genes belonging to the mTOR signaling pathway are a frequent cause of cortical malformations, including focal cortical dysplasia or hemimegalencephaly. The present study aims to search for brain somatic mutations in paired blood-brain samples and perform functional validation in children with drug-resistant focal epilepsy
The purpose of this study is to measure if the drug called Everolimus effects mTOR signaling (an electrical activity signal in the brain) in patients with Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC) and Focal Cortical Dysplasia (FCD) with treatment resistant epilepsy (TRE) who will be undergoing brain surgery. One group of patients will be treated with Everolimus, and another will not. Researchers will determine if there is a difference in mTOR signaling between the patients who were treated with Everolimus and those who were not. Previous studies have suggested that Everolimus may reduce seizure activity in TSC patients by decreasing mTOR signaling. Since patients with FCD may also have excess mTOR signaling brain activity, Everolimus may also reduce seizure activity in these patients. The drug Everolimus is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat specific types of breast, pancreatic, and kidney cancer, a kidney tumor called an angiomyolipoma (common in patients with TSC), and TSC patients who have a brain tumor called a subependymal giant cell astrocytoma (SEGA). However, in this research it is considered to be an investigational since it is not approved for reduction in mTOR signaling and a decrease in seizure frequency. Researchers believe that Everolimus may be useful in reducing something called cortical hyperexcitability, which is the excess brain activity that can contribute to seizures.
Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) is a common finding in epilepsy surgery in pediatric patients. Children with intractable epilepsy would have extensive tests to identify the cause of epilepsy; this includes MR brain, video EEG and magnetoencephalography (MEG). The white matter next to FCD is frequently found to be abnormal on pathology. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) can be used to study the abnormal white matter and the area that often extends beyond the area that is visible.