Signature study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Are sympatho-vagal balance measures derived from heart rate variability during seizures helping in defining the cause of the seizure: a pilot study.
IRAS ID
146807
Contact name
Paul Cooper
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
NHS Salford R+D (Acute and Primary Care Research)
Research summary
Blackouts, better termed “Transient Loss of Consciousness” can be due to fainting, epilepsy or psychological causes. Most patients with blackouts are unable to describe their blackout, and often no good description is available from a witness.
When a person has continuing blackouts, and there is significant uncertainty about the diagnosis, patients are admitted to a monitoring unit for up to a week, to continuously record their electroencephalogram (EEG) and electrocardiogram (ECG), and observe what happens to them, and to their EEG and ECG, during a blackout.
Cardiac function is under the control of the autonomic nervous system, and using advanced signal analysis techniques it is possible to measure the state of the autonomic nervous system from the ECG trace; our hypothesis is that analysis of the level of autonomic arousal prior to the blackout defines distinct “signatures“ which may help define the cause of the collapse.
In the current study we intend to use existing data collected during routine clinical monitoring to see if it possible to extract suitable ECG data from the recordings. The findings from this pilot study will help determine if further studies are warranted to develop this technique for future patient benefit.REC name
East Midlands - Leicester Central Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/EM/0148
Date of REC Opinion
7 Apr 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion