NIH invests $20M to study radiosurgery for epilepsy control
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will provide up to $20 million in grant funding to support an international clinical trial to examine the effectiveness of MRI-guided radiosurgery as a treatment for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.
For about 25 percent of patients suffering from epilepsy, medications do not effectively control the disease and stop seizures. For some, physicians recommend epilepsy surgery, which requires a craniotomy.
However, radiosurgery, which delivers focused beams of radiation guided by MRI to the lesion in an attempt to damage the lesion and prevent it from causing epileptic seizures, may offer an alternative.
Mark S. Quigg, MD, a neurologist with University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Va., is helping lead an international trial to determine whether noninvasive radiosurgery could effectively treat patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.
“Epilepsy surgery probably is underutilized, and an alternate method may bring the benefits of surgery to a wider group of patients,” Quigg said in a statement.
The trial will randomly assign 217 patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy to receive either radiosurgery or a craniotomy and follow up with those patients for three years.
The study will compare the effectiveness of the two treatments using several measures, including:
• Stopping epileptic seizures;
• How well the patient’s brain functions following surgery;
• The patient’s quality of life, such as mood and ability to drive; and
• The cost of the surgery as well as follow-up treatment. A craniotomy can require a hospital stay of four to six days, including one or two nights in an intensive care unit. In contrast, radiosurgery patients typically can return home the same day. However, it can take six to 15 months for radiosurgery to stop epileptic seizures.
For about 25 percent of patients suffering from epilepsy, medications do not effectively control the disease and stop seizures. For some, physicians recommend epilepsy surgery, which requires a craniotomy.
However, radiosurgery, which delivers focused beams of radiation guided by MRI to the lesion in an attempt to damage the lesion and prevent it from causing epileptic seizures, may offer an alternative.
Mark S. Quigg, MD, a neurologist with University of Virginia School of Medicine in Charlottesville, Va., is helping lead an international trial to determine whether noninvasive radiosurgery could effectively treat patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.
“Epilepsy surgery probably is underutilized, and an alternate method may bring the benefits of surgery to a wider group of patients,” Quigg said in a statement.
The trial will randomly assign 217 patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy to receive either radiosurgery or a craniotomy and follow up with those patients for three years.
The study will compare the effectiveness of the two treatments using several measures, including:
• Stopping epileptic seizures;
• How well the patient’s brain functions following surgery;
• The patient’s quality of life, such as mood and ability to drive; and
• The cost of the surgery as well as follow-up treatment. A craniotomy can require a hospital stay of four to six days, including one or two nights in an intensive care unit. In contrast, radiosurgery patients typically can return home the same day. However, it can take six to 15 months for radiosurgery to stop epileptic seizures.