DeSIPhER v1.0
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Developing Schizophrenia Identification using Physiological EEG Response (DeSIPhER)
IRAS ID
103549
Contact name
Sibani Mohanty
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde,
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 7 days
Research summary
Schizophrenia is a serious mental illness affecting 1% of the total global population. The disease burden on the patients and families of patients is long term, and also represents a significant cost to the NHS for treatment and the economy due to lost working days.
The inconsistency of complex clinical features between patients of schizophrenia makes a diagnosis based upon clinical symptoms extremely challenging. Current treatments only provide partial relief from symptoms in some patients. In recent years, the need to improve the existing diagnostic methods and the available treatment regimen for schizophrenia has become important. Cognitive deficits are now considered as a core feature of schizophrenia, playing a major role in the long term outcome of this illness. Neurophysiological methods can be used to explore information about the underlying brain activity which relates to the various symptoms of the disease such as hallucinations, emotional flattening and cognitive deficits. These methods are more user-friendly and better tolerated by the general population and patients when compared with techniques like fMRI settings at it does not require patients suffering from paranoia and anxiety issues to be isolated for prolonged periods. Our aim is to combine neurophysiological, behavioural and cognitive aspects in to one diagnostic protocol in order to provide more information than if just one test was used to measure the heterogeneity of the disease.
We will use electroencephalography (EEG), a non-invasive method of recording brain activity from the scalp, in our study. This study will enable us to identify particular regions of the brain that are affected in schizophrenia, by combining neurophysiological tasks , cognitive tasks, CANTAB (Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery) standardized cognitive tests and an emotional response task with EEG. By combining a range of neurophysiological measures with behavioural and cognitive tests, we aim to increase the specificity and sensitivity of a protocol that can diagnose and track the progression of schizophrenia.REC name
West of Scotland REC 1
REC reference
15/WS/0083
Date of REC Opinion
25 May 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion