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Abstract

Grant Number:	2R44NS042992-02A2
PI Name:	GEVINS, ALAN S.
PI Email:	alan@eeg.com
PI Title:	PRESIDENT
Project Title:	Antiepileptic Neurotoxicity Test

Abstract: DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Patients with epilepsy often suffer from cognitive impairments. Seizure control can improve cognitive status; yet the anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) often used for this purpose can themselves affect mental function. Thus, defining an effective treatment for an individual patient often requires balancing seizure control with potential medication side effects. While efficacy for seizure control is relatively easy for the clinician to gauge, currently there is no efficient objective measure of brain function used to assess changes in cognitive status during treatment. We propose to develop a specialized system, the Ant epileptic Neurotoxicity Test (ANT), to address this need. Our prior research suggests that sensitive indices of attention and memory can be derived from multivariate combinations of EEG, ERP and behavioral performance measures. During Phase I we demonstrated that such methods are sensitive to both acute dosing with older generation medications, and to the cognitive side effects of chronic dosing with newer AEDs. Progress was also made on the design and implementation of an automated clinical testing system that the ANT would be based on, and on defining modifications to signal processing algorithms to accommodate abnormal EEGs. In Phase II our methods will be extended and a prototype ANT will be implemented and validated in collaborative studies with epilepsy specialists. A resulting first generation ANT will enable research on the neurocognitive changes associated with epilepsy treatments, providing an efficient, standardized means to measure cognitive brain function across different laboratories and clinics. With refinement, the system could improve patient care, for example by helping a physician to select the best drug and dose level for an individual patient. There is a significant market demand for such a device in the context of epileptology, and related products could find widespread use as assessment tools in many areas of neurology and psychiatry.

Thesaurus Terms:
anticonvulsant, behavior test, biomedical automation, biomedical equipment development, clinical biomedical equipment, drug adverse effect, electroencephalography, epilepsy, neuropsychological test
Internet, attention, brain disorder chemotherapy, cognition, information system, memory, personal computer
behavioral /social science research tag, clinical research, human subject, patient oriented research

Institution:	SAM TECHNOLOGY, INC.
	425 BUSH ST, 5TH FL
	SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108
Fiscal Year:	2003
Department:
Project Start:	01-FEB-2002
Project End:	30-JUN-2005
ICD:	NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE
IRG:	ZRG1

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