Seizure Recurrence After Unprovoked First Seizure
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- This is an observational study: the protocol does not assign a study treatment.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Single Seizure, Epilepsy. Basic parameters: 18 years — 65 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- Canada
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
Unsure about the terms? Read our patient guide →
Official title
Multimodal Prediction of Seizure Recurrence After Unprovoked First Seizure to Guide Clinical Decision-making: a Multi-centre Study of Cognition, Mood and Brain Connectivity As Predictors
Overview
One in 10 people have a seizure during their life. Usually no cause is identified. Seizures without an identified cause are called unprovoked first seizure (UFS). Most people with UFS do not have further seizures. Being able to predict the risk of more seizures as soon as possible would help doctors decide whether to suggest treatment after UFS. Studies show that seizures are associated with changes in brain structure and function that are difficult to detect with standard assessments but can be detected with advanced techniques. Changes in connections between brain regions are also linked to subtle problems in thinking and mood. The investigators will examine brain connections using detailed brain scans, thinking, and mood in people with UFS and develop an accurate method for calculating the risk of further seizures. 200 adult patients and 75 matched healthy controls from the Halifax and Kingston First Seizure Clinics will undergo cognitive screening assessment of major cognitive domains, MRI imaging including structural scans, resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), and EEG. Seizure recurrence will be assessed prospectively and a multimodal machine learning model will be trained to predict seizure recurrence at 12 months.
Primary outcome measures
- Number of Participants with Seizure Recurrence after Unprovoked First Seizure [Time frame: 12 months]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- This study will consider adult patients between the ages of 18-65 years seen in the First Seizure Clinics in Halifax and Kingston with unprovoked first seizure.
- The investigators will also include a sample of age, sex, and education-matched healthy controls with the same exclusion criteria.
Exclusion criteria
- Individuals over the age of 65 will not be included to reduce the probability of including individuals with early dementia.
- The investigators will also exclude individuals who, upon assessment during their first clinic appointment, are determined to have non-epileptic events, recurrent events or diagnosis of epilepsy (e.g. based on abnormal CT or EEG), provoked seizure (e.g. medication, substance misuse, metabolic), acute symptomatic seizures, those with an existing prescription for antiseizure drugs, significant CNS comorbidity that may affect cognition and brain networks (e.g. progressive neurological disorder, MS), previous neurosurgery, or contraindication to MRI.
- Finally, although there is no known risk to a fetus from MRI scanning, as is standard in research studies involving MRI, pregnant participants will be excluded and those that suspect that they may be pregnant require a negative pregnancy test before scanning.
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: Yes
Study design
- Observational model
- Case-control
Study locations
Canada · 2 centers
- Dalhousie University and Nova Scotia Health Authority — Halifax
- Queen's University and Kingston Health Sciences Centre — Kingston
Publications
- Beattie BC, Batista Garcia-Ramo K, Biggs K, Boisse Lomax L, Brien DC, Gallivan JP, Ikeda K, Schmidt M, Shukla G, Whatley B, Woodroffe S, Omisade A, Winston GP. Literature review and protocol for a prospective multicentre cohort study on multimodal prediction of seizure recurrence after unprovoked first seizure. BMJ Open. 2024 Apr 5;14(4):e086153. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2024-086153. PMID 38582538
Identifiers
NCT: NCT05724719 · DMED-2681-22 · PJT-183906