Visual hallucinations: an EEG and non-invasive stimulation study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Biomedical Research Unit: Visual hallucinations: an EEG and non-invasive stimulation study (BRU VEEG-Stim Study)
IRAS ID
131245
Contact name
John-Paul Taylor
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Research summary
Visual hallucinations (VH) are a common feature in Lewy body diseases (LBD), e.g. Parkinson’s disease with dementia (PDD) and Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) with up to 80% of patients affected by these distressing symptoms. Similarly, in PD with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and in the eye disorder Charles Bonnet Syndrome (CBS) VH are also common. Untreated, VH in these disorders can markedly impair patient quality of life and increase caregiver distress. A number of possible explanations for VH have been proposed but no specific model has yet been proved definitive. Therefore it is not fully understand why and how VH occur, though it has been proposed that changes in visual regions of the brain are important. Knowing more about how and why VH occur will help to develop better treatments and thus improve quality of life.
This study will look at which brain regions are involved in producing VH by testing people with VH versus those who do not experience VH or have dementia and will include 20 LBD-hallucinators, 20 LBD non-hallucinators, 20 cognitively intact patients with CBS and 20 similarly aged controls.There are three phases to the study:
i) Baseline neuropsychological assessment including a full clinical, cognitive, neurological and neuropsychiatric assessment.
ii) Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): To look at brain structure, activity and chemistry to determine whether differences exist in people who hallucinate compared with those who do not.
iii) Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) combined with electroencephalography (EEG): In TMS, a hand-held device will be used on the head of the participant to briefly stimulate different parts of the brain. In EEG, a special wired cap on the head records the brain’s response to TMS to identify which brain regions might be involved in the production of VH by comparing findings in patients against controls.REC name
North East - Newcastle & North Tyneside 2 Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
13/NE/0252
Date of REC Opinion
4 Nov 2013
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion