Objective EEG Bed Side Assessment of Impaired Conscious Awareness in Epilepsy

NCT ID: NCT04799795

Last Updated: 2025-07-08

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Total Enrollment

49 participants

Study Classification

OBSERVATIONAL

Study Start Date

2021-10-01

Study Completion Date

2025-05-24

Brief Summary

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In this project EEG recordings between healthy participants and those with a diagnosed Absence-epilepsy will be compared. The investigators suggest differences in EEG microstate analysis and neuropsychological parameters related to interictal cognitive impairment in these patients. This projects goal is to derive an EEG-based measure of conscious awareness.

Detailed Description

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This projects goal is to derive an EEG-based measure of conscious awareness to be applied in the care for epilepsy patients. The established terminology of "ictal" versus "interictal" is deceptive because it suggests that during the "interictal" phase epileptic activity is absent and detrimental mechanisms of the disease are only active during seizures. But evidence exists that cognitive impairment extends to states traditionally considered interictal. The development of an objective, ideally ambulatory test assessing cognitive impairment would not only provide a deeper understanding of the pathology but induce a change in clinical practice: if cognitive impairment could be demonstrated "interictally", this fact would help to weigh treatment effects against potential side-effects.

In this project the investigators will set out to

1. identify EEG markers in healthy volunteers, which reflect the changes in spatial and temporal dynamics of neuronal activity during states of reduced conscious awareness using sleep as an example of a state of reduced conscious awareness;
2. assess with neuropsychological testing reductions in interictal conscious awareness in patients with epilepsy;
3. test, whether markers established under (1) are valid in individuals with epilepsy and interictally reduced conscious awareness (see (2)).

Conditions

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Epilepsy, Absence

Study Design

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Observational Model Type

CASE_CONTROL

Study Time Perspective

PROSPECTIVE

Study Groups

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healthy subjects

Age-matched healthy participants will be recruited via flyers at public education facilities and online advertisement. Participants need to be healthy and without central nervous system disorders and substance abuse. The investigators will also exclude pregnant women from the experiment.

No interventions assigned to this group

patients with absence epilepsy

Apart from the diagnosis of epilepsy, patients need to be of good health and without central nervous system disorders and substance abuse. The investigators will also exclude pregnant women from the experiment.

No interventions assigned to this group

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* age minimum 18 years
* diagnosis of (absence) epilepsy // healthy age-matched controls
* being of good health (besides epilepsy in the case group)

Exclusion Criteria

* central nervous system disorders (besides epilepsy in the case group)
* substance abuse
* pregnancy
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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German Research Foundation

OTHER

Sponsor Role collaborator

University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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Gesine Hermann, MD

Scientist in Neuroimaging

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Inken Toedt, Dr. phil. Dipl.-Psych.

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel

Helmut Laufs, PD Dr. med.

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Kiel

Locations

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Department of Neurology

Kiel, , Germany

Site Status

Countries

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Germany

References

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Brodbeck V, Kuhn A, von Wegner F, Morzelewski A, Tagliazucchi E, Borisov S, Michel CM, Laufs H. EEG microstates of wakefulness and NREM sleep. Neuroimage. 2012 Sep;62(3):2129-39. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.05.060. Epub 2012 May 30.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 22658975 (View on PubMed)

Haimovici A, Tagliazucchi E, Balenzuela P, Laufs H. On wakefulness fluctuations as a source of BOLD functional connectivity dynamics. Sci Rep. 2017 Jul 19;7(1):5908. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-06389-4.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 28724928 (View on PubMed)

Kuhn A, Brodbeck V, Tagliazucchi E, Morzelewski A, von Wegner F, Laufs H. Narcoleptic Patients Show Fragmented EEG-Microstructure During Early NREM Sleep. Brain Topogr. 2015 Jul;28(4):619-35. doi: 10.1007/s10548-014-0387-1. Epub 2014 Aug 29.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 25168255 (View on PubMed)

Laufs H, Rodionov R, Thornton R, Duncan JS, Lemieux L, Tagliazucchi E. Altered FMRI connectivity dynamics in temporal lobe epilepsy might explain seizure semiology. Front Neurol. 2014 Sep 11;5:175. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2014.00175. eCollection 2014.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 25309503 (View on PubMed)

Tagliazucchi E, Crossley N, Bullmore ET, Laufs H. Deep sleep divides the cortex into opposite modes of anatomical-functional coupling. Brain Struct Funct. 2016 Nov;221(8):4221-4234. doi: 10.1007/s00429-015-1162-0. Epub 2015 Dec 9.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 26650048 (View on PubMed)

Tagliazucchi E, Laufs H. Decoding wakefulness levels from typical fMRI resting-state data reveals reliable drifts between wakefulness and sleep. Neuron. 2014 May 7;82(3):695-708. doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2014.03.020.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24811386 (View on PubMed)

Tagliazucchi E, Roseman L, Kaelen M, Orban C, Muthukumaraswamy SD, Murphy K, Laufs H, Leech R, McGonigle J, Crossley N, Bullmore E, Williams T, Bolstridge M, Feilding A, Nutt DJ, Carhart-Harris R. Increased Global Functional Connectivity Correlates with LSD-Induced Ego Dissolution. Curr Biol. 2016 Apr 25;26(8):1043-50. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.02.010. Epub 2016 Apr 13.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 27085214 (View on PubMed)

Tagliazucchi E, von Wegner F, Morzelewski A, Brodbeck V, Borisov S, Jahnke K, Laufs H. Large-scale brain functional modularity is reflected in slow electroencephalographic rhythms across the human non-rapid eye movement sleep cycle. Neuroimage. 2013 Apr 15;70:327-39. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.12.073. Epub 2013 Jan 9.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 23313420 (View on PubMed)

Tagliazucchi E, von Wegner F, Morzelewski A, Brodbeck V, Jahnke K, Laufs H. Breakdown of long-range temporal dependence in default mode and attention networks during deep sleep. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2013 Sep 17;110(38):15419-24. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1312848110. Epub 2013 Sep 3.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 24003146 (View on PubMed)

von Wegner F, Tagliazucchi E, Laufs H. Information-theoretical analysis of resting state EEG microstate sequences - non-Markovianity, non-stationarity and periodicities. Neuroimage. 2017 Sep;158:99-111. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.062. Epub 2017 Jun 30.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 28673879 (View on PubMed)

Provided Documents

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Document Type: Study Protocol

View Document

Document Type: Informed Consent Form

View Document

Other Identifiers

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D 558/17

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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