One of the main causes of epilepsy is an excessively strong basic brain excitation. This could so far only be measured by stimulating a patient’s brain electrically or magnetically. This is however laborious and can cause an epileptic seizure. An international team of researchers, including researchers at Freiburg’s university hospital have now proposed a mathematical method for analysis that can measure brain excitation without outer influence (Proceedings of the National Society (PNAS)). The method makes measuring safer, allows long-term experiments, and promises an objective therapy control. Moreover, the team of researchers showed that brain excitation strongly depends on sleep rhythm.
Co-author of the study, Prof Dr. Andreas Schulze-Bonhage (director of the center for epilepsy at Freiburg’s university hospital and member of the Cluster of Excellence BrainLinks-BrainTools at Freiburg University) stresses that this is the foundation for long-term studies that aim at seizure prevention.
The team of researchers also showed that the brain’s level of excitation was lowered under medication. In the future, therapy success could thus be controlled in real-time. The method could also be relevant for predicting seizures. Further experiments are needed to test whether different forms of epilepsy differ as to their pattern of excitation and how individual patients may differ in terms of predictability. Such information is the basic requirement for developing potential methods for seizure prediction.
Further information:
PNAS-Article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26554021
Freiburg Epilepsy Center: www.uniklinik-freiburg.de/epilepsie.html
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Andreas Schulze-Bonhage
Medical Director
Freiburg Epilepsy Center
Department of Neurosurgery
The University Medical Center Freiburg
T: +49 761 270 54250
andreas.schulze-bonhage(at)uniklinik-freiburg.de
Johannes Faber Public Relations Manager The University Medical Center Freiburg Telefon: 0761 270-84610 johannes.faber@uniklinik-freiburg.de