A study of brain mapping used during brain surgery
Official title: Neuronal and Network Mechanisms of Electrocortical Stimulation
Status: Enrolling by invitation. It is only taking people the trial team invites. You cannot sign up for this one directly.
The trial team last updated this record on .
The short version
This study looks at how a common brain mapping tool affects the brain during surgery.
Read our full plain-language summary
What the trial team says
Electrocortical stimulation (ECS) mapping is a procedure used during brain surgeries, for example when treating diseases like epilepsy or when removing brain tumors. ECS mapping helps surgeons locate areas of the cerebral cortex (the outer part of the brain) that are important for everyday tasks like movement and speech. ECS mapping has been used for decades, and is considered the "gold-standard" tool for locating important areas of cortex. Despite this long history, there is still no clear understanding of exactly how ECS works. The goal of this study is to learn details about the effects ECS has on the brain. The main questions the study aims to answer are: 1) how ECS affects the neurons of the cortex at the stimulation site; and 2) how ECS impacts brain regions that are critically important for human speech and language. These so-called "critical sites" can be physically distant from one another on the brain's surface, requiring extensive ECS mapping and long surgeries. Critical sites are thought to be part of a speech/language network of brain areas, and so the study's goal is to learn about how they are connected. In some participants, the brain's surface will also be slightly cooled. This is a painless procedure that does not harm the brain's function, but could provide insight as to which parts of the brain (the surface, or deeper parts) are responsible for the effects of ECS. By improving the understanding of how ECS affects the brain and improving the ability to identify critical sites, this study could potentially lead to shorter surgeries and better outcomes for future individuals who need this care. Participants will be recruited from among individuals who are undergoing brain surgery for epilepsy treatment or tumor removal. Participants will complete simple tasks like reading words or naming pictures, similar to standard testing that is already performed during their hospital stay.
Key facts
- Registry number
- NCT06391294
- Stage of testing
- Not applicable
- Conditions studied
- Epilepsy, Brain Tumor Adult
Where it is running
This trial lists 3 sites.
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Illinois
- Northwestern University (Chicago)
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Iowa
- University of Iowa (Iowa City)
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Maryland
- Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore)
How to use this
Talk to your care team first. They know your history and can tell you whether this trial is worth your time.
Joining a trial is always your choice. A trial is a test, not a proven treatment. Being in one is not a promise that it will help you.
This page is built from the trial's listing on ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. That listing is the authority, and it may have changed since we last read it. We do not run this trial and we cannot enroll you in it.