Epilepsy Clinical Trials

This study will be done in two phases. Using stakeholder input (community advisory board (CAB)), the study team will adapt the SMART program to incorporate education and self-management support for use of Rescue Medication (RM) to manage seizure occurrence among Persons With Epilepsy (PWE) who have repetitive seizures. Additional content/support materials, pending input stakeholder might include posters/hand-outs that present information on the use of RM in a way that is engaging and salient to PWE. It is expected that participants will be in Phase 1 for about 3 months and participate in the CAB 2 or 3 times via zoom for 60-90 minutes/meeting. The advisory board will provide input on needed refinement of an adapted version of SMART based on their individual experiences. It is anticipate the total time commitment to be no more than 6 hours over 3 months, spread out over 2-3 meetings with review of materials possible in between meetings. Phase 2: The investigators will use a 6-month prospective trial design to test engagement with and effects of SMART-RM among approximately 35 adult (≥ 18 years) PWE who have repetitive seizures. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn if new educational program prior to epilepsy surgery can either decrease the risk of cognitive decline after surgery or be a help to those patients who experience a decline after undergoing epilepsy surgery. Participants will participate in 2 individual virtual sessions and 4 virtual group sessions over the course of 5-6 weeks prior to their epilepsy surgery. They will asked to fill out online surveys and questionnaires at various times throughout the study, up to 12 months after their surgery. To see if the educational program works, researchers will compare those participating in the educational program with those that are receiving the standard epilepsy care prior to surgery. Read Less

The goal of this clinical trial is to test if cognitive interventions in those with diagnosed epilepsy can help lessen cognitive lapses and improve overall brain health. Participants will participate in weekly, virtual group sessions led by a neuropsychologist for 12 weeks. After the 12-week mark, participants will be asked to practice what they learned for 9 more months. Participants will be asked to complete online questionnaires at certain times during the study. Researchers will compare this intervention group to another group that did not get the intervention to see if the intervention improves brain health. Participation in each of these groups will be randomly assigned. Participation in the study will last for one year. Read Less

The main reason for this research study is to gain information about how the brain makes seizures by causing seizures using very small amounts of current, or electrical stimulation. Using small amounts of current to cause seizures (or stimulate) is not new at CCHMC - it is part of routine clinical practice for some patients at some electrodes. This study differs from routine clinical care in that all study patients will undergo electrical stimulation in all or nearly all electrode contacts. The study team is doing this because there is promising data in adult patients that stimulating comprehensively (targeting all or nearly all of the electrode contacts) helps define the seizure network. Defining the seizure network in turn helps the medical team plan surgery. So far, there is not as much published data on seizure stimulation for pediatric patients. This research study thus has the potential both to help individual patients (by providing specific information about your seizure networks) and to help pediatric patients with epilepsy in general (by increasing our understanding of stimulated seizures in children, teenagers and young adults). Read Less

Objectives: The overall study objective is to compare the sensitivities and specificities of morphometric analysis techniques using structural MRI images based on pre- and postsurgical localization of epileptic foci in patients undergoing presurgical evaluation for medically refractory epilepsy. To carry out these analyses, we aim to establish an age-stratified normative imaging database using healthy volunteers. Additional objectives are to identify abnormal networks in these patients using resting state fMRI/EEG and MEG/EEG, and to use language and memory fMRI tasks to examine the effects of epileptogenic zones and surgery on cognitive function and the networks associated with these functions. Study population: 300 adults and children (age 8 and older) with uncontrolled focal epilepsy, and 200 age-stratified healthy volunteers. Design: A retrospective and prospective natural history study. Research procedures for patients in this study include neuropsychological testing and 1-4 MRI sessions during presurgical evaluation and an additional 1-3 MRI sessions and neuropsychological testing approximately 12 months post-operatively. Research testing (such as research neuropsychological tests or MRI scanning sequences) will be done during a visit for clinical testing whenever possible, likely reducing the number of required visits. Patients will also have optional MEG and 7T structural imaging. Data will also be obtained from patients who have already undergone epilepsy surgery if they had procedures as outlined in the protocol and are willing to share the data. Healthy volunteers will receive a subset of the pre-operative procedures for patients, requiring at least 3 visits. In order to ensure adequate data acquisition, subjects may be re-scanned up to three times for the portions of the study in which they participated, possibly requiring additional visits. Outcome measures: The main outcomes will be establishment of normative values for morphometric analysis methods in age-stratified normal controls, and comparison of the sensitivity and specificity of these measures to pre- and postsurgical localization of the epileptogenic zone. Secondary outcome measures will include determination of the sensitivity and specificity of source localization using MEG/EEG and resting state fMRI/EEG, and to evaluate changes in activation during rest, as well as language and memory fMRI tasks in patients pre- and postsurgically, to examine the effects of epileptogenic zones and surgery on cognitive function and the networks underlying these functions. ... Read Less

Background: Some people with brain tumors have seizures related to the tumor. This is called tumor-related epilepsy. Usually brain tumors are treated by removing as much of the brain tumor as possible without causing problems. Researchers think this may improve the outcome for people with brain tumors. It may completely relieve or greatly reduce the number of seizures they have. Objectives: To evaluate people with brain tumors that are associated with seizures and to offer surgical treatment. Also, to study how surgery affects seizures. Eligibility: People age 8 and older who have a brain tumor with associated seizures. They must be willing to have brain surgery to treat their epilepsy. Design: Participants will be screened with a review of their medical records. Participants will have a medical history and physical exam. Participants will be admitted to the hospital at NIH. They will have Medical history Physical exam Neurological exam Tests of memory, attention, and thinking Questions about their symptoms and quality of life Blood drawn They may also have: MRI or CT scan. They will lie on a table that slides in and out of a machine that takes pictures. For part of the MRI, they will get a dye through an intravenous (IV) catheter. Video electroencephalography monitoring. Electrodes will be placed on the scalp. The participant s brain waves will be recorded while doing normal activities. Participants will be videotaped. Participants will keep a seizure diary before and after surgery. Participants will have surgery to remove their brain tumor and the brain area where their seizures start. They will stay in the hospital up to a week after surgery. Participants have for follow-up visits at NIH. Read Less

This observational natural history study will follow individuals with MEHMO (Mental disability, Epileptic seizure, Hypopituitarism/Hypogenitalism, Microcephaly, Obesity) syndrome or an eIF2-pathway related disorder, who have symptoms such as intellectual delay, seizures, abnormal hormone and blood sugar levels, and decreased motor skills. No current treatment for these conditions is available. A major impediment to the testing of potential therapeutic interventions is the lack of well-defined outcome measures. This protocol seeks to identify biochemical and clinical markers to monitor disease progression, and better understand the natural history of these conditions. Any person diagnosed with MEHMO syndrome or related conditions, who can travel to the NIH Clinical Center can participate in this study. The study involves: General health assessment and evaluation Imaging studies Laboratory tests Collection of blood, urine, spinal fluid, skin biopsy. Read Less

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Methylphenidate (MPH) is a stimulant, FDA-approved for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is unknown, however, if stimulants would be of benefit for memory and thinking problems due to epilepsy. In this study, participants will be assigned randomly (i.e., by flip of a coin), to a group that takes MPH and a group that takes a placebo (sugar pill). Participants will not know the group to which they have been assigned. Tests of attention and memory will be completed before taking the study pills and at Week 8. All participants will then have the option of taking MPH for the next two months, and attention and memory will be tested again at Week 16. The study will determine whether methylphenidate is helpful for the treatment of attention and memory problems in adults with epilepsy, and whether the medication is safe and beneficial when taken over an extended time period. Read Less

Depression is one of the most common disorders of mental health, affecting 7-8% of the population and causing tremendous disability to afflicted individuals and economic burden to society. In order to optimize existing treatments and develop improved ones, the investigators need a deeper understanding of the mechanistic basis of this complex disorder. Previous work in this area has made important progress but has two main limitations. (1) Most studies have used non-invasive and therefore imprecise measures of brain activity. (2) Black box modeling used to link neural activity to behavior remain difficult to interpret, and although sometimes successful in describing activity within certain contexts, may not generalize to new situations, provide mechanistic insight, or efficiently guide therapeutic interventions. To overcome these challenges, the investigators combine precise intracranial neural recordings in humans with a suite of new eXplainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) approaches. The investigators have assembled a team of experimentalists and computational experts with combined experience sufficient for this task. Our unique dataset comprises two groups of subjects: the Epilepsy Cohort consists of patients with refractory epilepsy undergoing intracranial seizure monitoring, and the Depression Cohort consists of subjects in an NIH/BRAIN-funded research trial of deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). As a whole, this dataset provides precise, spatiotemporally resolved human intracranial recording and stimulation data across a wide dynamic range of depression severity. Our Aims apply a progressive approach to modeling and manipulating brain-behavior relationships. Aim 1 seeks to identify features of neural activity associated with mood states. Beginning with current state-of-the-art AI models and then uses a "ladder" approach to bridge to models of increasing expressiveness while imposing mechanistically explainable structure. Whereas Aim 1 focuses on self-reported mood level as the behavioral index of interest, Aim 2 uses an alternative approach of focusing on measurable neurobiological features inspired by the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC). These features, such as reward sensitivity, loss aversion, executive attention, etc. are extracted from behavioral task performance using a novel "inverse rational control" XAI approach. Relating these measures to neural activity patterns provides additional mechanistic and normative understanding of the neurobiology of depression. Aim 3 uses recurrent neural networks to model the consequences of richly varied patterns of multi-site intracranial stimulation on neural activity. Then employing an innovative "inception loop" XAI approach to derive stimulation strategies for open- and closed-loop control that can drive the neural system towards a desired, healthier state. If successful, this project would enhance our understanding of the pathophysiology of depression and improve neuromodulatory treatment strategies. This can also be applied to a host of other neurological and psychiatric disorders, taking an important step towards XAI-guided precision neuroscience. Read Less

Background: Epilepsy affects about 1 percent of the U.S. population. Most people with epilepsy respond well to medicine, but some do not. Researchers want people who have diagnosed or suspected epilepsy to participate in ongoing studies. They want to learn more about clinical care for epilepsy. They want fellows and residents to learn more about the care of people with epilepsy. Objectives: To learn more about seizures and find ways to best treat people with drug-resistant epilepsy. Eligibility: Adults and children ages 8 years and older with diagnosed or suspected epilepsy Design: Participants will be screened with: Physical exam Medical history Questionnaires Participants will have many visits. They may be admitted to the hospital for several weeks. Their medication might be stopped or changed. Participants will have many tests: Blood and urine tests EEG: Wires attached to the head with paste record brain waves. This may be videotaped. Thinking and memory tests MRI: Participants lie on a table that slides in and out of a tube. They perform simple tasks in the tube. MEG: Participants lie on a table and place their head in a helmet to record brain waves. PET scan: Participants lie on a table that slides into a machine. A small amount of radioactive dye is injected into their arm with an IV. For the IV, a small tube is inserted into the arm with a needle. Participants will stay enrolled in this study if they join other epilepsy-related studies. They may be contacted at intervals for follow-up. Their participation will end if they have not been seen clinically for their epilepsy for 3 years. Read Less

The acute and chronic effects of VNS stimulation on various on the autonomic nervous, cardiovascular, immune, and metabolic systems will be compared from noninvasive and minimally invasive physiological recordings and blood draws at various time points throughout the study. These interventions and assessments will be performed in individuals 18 years of age and older who are implanted with a VNS device, which consists of patients who have been diagnosed with drug resistant epilepsy or major depressive disorder. The REVEAL study is not a treatment study; its primary objective is to scientifically investigate the contributing roles of efferent versus afferent vagus nerve modulation of multiple peripheral organs and their dependence on stimulation parameters, in which participants are those who have been implanted with a VNS device be receive standard of care treatment for their epilepsy or depressive disorder. Read Less