PReservIng Memory in Epilepsy: PRIME Study Now Recruiting Patients With Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

An innovative neuromodulation study recruiting patients at UTHealth Houston, Texas and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, focuses on novel targets for neuromodulation using low-frequency stimulation to inhibit hyperexcitability circuits in the limbic system. Researchers are actively recruiting patients ages 18 to 65 with epilepsy originating in the dominant hippocampus.

“There is a profound need for hippocampal epilepsy therapies that reduce seizures while simultaneously preserving memory,” says Nitin Tandon, MD, professor, vice president for strategy and development at UTHealth Houston Neurosciences, and director of the epilepsy surgery program at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, who is principal investigator at the UTHealth Houston site. Tandon holds the Nancy, Clive and Pierce Runnels Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience of the Vivian L. Smith Center for Neurologic Research and the BCMS Distinguished Professorship in Neurological Disorders and Neurosurgery at McGovern Medical School. “We hypothesize that epilepsy neuromodulation using low-frequency simulation in patients with epilepsy that arises in the hippocampus, which is essential for memory, will result in a significant decrease in seizure frequency and severity, paralleled by a decrease in EEG spike counts and improved memory function.”

Study participants will receive unilateral deep brain stimulation with network-based stimulation targets specifically defined using a stereoelectroencephalographic (sEEG) evaluation and recordings using the Medtronic Percept™ primary cell neurostimulator DBS system with BrainSense™ technology. Qualifying patients will receive the device and surgical implantation at no charge, and compensation will be provided per visit.

The study is funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NIH) and is approved under an IDE by the FDA.

Patients from Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana will be treated at UTHealth Houston by neurosurgeon Dr. Nitin Tandon and neurologist Dr. Jay Gavvala. For more information, contact Jessica Johnson, MSN, FNP-BC, at (713) 500-5443 or [email protected].

Patients from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota will be treated at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, by neurologist Dr. Gregory Worrell and neurosurgeon Dr. Jamie Van Gompel. For more information, contact Karla Crockett at (507) 538-4880 or [email protected].

If you are from Texas, Oklahoma, or Louisiana, please contact Jessica Johnson, MSN, FNP-BC, at (713) 500-5443 or [email protected] for more information.