Cerebral blood flow change in relation to epileptic events in children
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding cerebral haemodynamic changes in relation to epileptic events in children
IRAS ID
146278
Contact name
J Helen Cross
Contact email
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
13NR37, R&D Number
Research summary
Epilepsy remains the most common neurological disorder in children affecting 60,000 in the UK. One third continue to have seizures despite antiepileptic medication. A small but significant number of children require and justify invasive EEG with documentation of seizures from electrode plates on the surface of the brain as part of their presurgical evaluation.
There is increasing evidence that there are haemodynamic changes that precede these epileptic events. It is important to detect these early changes because it might help surgery (an effective treatment in children whose seizures do not respond to drug therapy), by defining where the area of the brain that seizures start from. Also, future treatments are likely to require early seizure detection and so it is important to understand the contribution to this prediction that measurements of haemodynamic changes might make.
We propose using combined laser-doppler blood flow measurements and intracranial EEG recordings, in which electrodes are implanted in patients already undergoing intracranial EEG, as well as near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) combined with EEG recordings to better understand haemodyamics in relation to epileptic activity.
REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/LO/1121
Date of REC Opinion
13 Aug 2014
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion