Epilepsy Research

International Leadership in Epilepsy Study And Epilepsy Clinical Trials

In every possible case, the findings from researchers at University Hospitals Neurological Institute’s Epilepsy Center and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine translate into enhanced care of our epilepsy patients, providing rapid access to the latest treatment alternatives.

Recent projects include:

• The PRISM Project, which is a National Institutes of Health funded multicenter, multidisciplinary, multimodal approach to investigate Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP); University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center’s Epilepsy Center is the lead site, working in close collaboration with Case Western Reserve University’s Division of Medical Bioinformatics and the Case School of Engineering.
• Electrical source imaging, an Epilepsy Foundation-funded project to carry out source imaging research to allow greater precision in finding and operating on the focus of intractable focal epilepsy; This research is conducted by the Cleveland Epilepsy Systems Engineering Group based at the Epilepsy Center and the School of Engineering.
• The epidemiology of healthcare disparities, co-morbidities and mortality in epilepsy in collaboration with the Department of Epidemiology at Case Western Reserve University
• Participating in the pivotal clinical trials of five of the nine antiepileptic drugs brought to market since the late 1990s, including lamotrigine, topiramate, felbamate, tiagabine and levetiracetam
• Phase 2 and 3 trials of new drugs under development
• Investigator-initiated studies to compare antiepileptic drugs in terms of effectiveness and side effects
• Use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), nuclear medicine and electroencephalography (EEG) to prevent collateral damage during surgery for safety and precision
• Working with Case Western Reserve University’s School of Engineering to study new methods of seizure detection to predict and head off seizures before they begin
• A double-blind, randomized study to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of brivaracetam used alone in subjects with partial onset seizures.
• Visual field assessment to determine eyesight side effects associated with epilepsy patients being treated with Lyrica
• Reply to the commentary of Robert Fisher titled "2017 ILAE Classification of Seizures and Epilepsy Are Steps in the Right Direction" (Fisher et al., 2019)