Clinical Trial: Characteristics of Blood- Brain Barrier Permeability in Neurological Patients

Study Status: Recruiting
Recruit Status: Unknown status
Study Type: Observational

Official Title: Blood- Brain Barrier Permeability in Neurological Patients: Anatomical, Neurophysiological, and Clinical Characteristics

Brief Summary: The main goal of the present study is to challenge the hypothesis that blood- brain barrier disruption following brain injury increases the risk for long-term disability, development of brain dysfunction, epileptic seizures and neuroanatomical alterations.

Detailed Summary:

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most common traumatic events, occurring in approximately 200 per 100,000, and is a known risk factor for later development of epileptic seizures. This occurs in up to 17% of TBI patients, and accounts for approximately 20% of symptomatic epilepsies (Annegers, JF. et al, 1998). Typically, post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) develops or several weeks but even years after the event. PTE is often chronic and poorly controlled pharmacologically. Although several factors have been attributed to an increased risk of developing PTE (e.g. severity of trauma, type of brain injury, time to the appearance of first seizure), the mechanisms underlying it remain unknown. Similar to TBI, ischemic injuries, most frequently occurring in the elderly population are the main cause of new onset epilepsy in this age group. It is still not known what are the risk factors and mechanisms underlying post-ischemic epilepsy.

Under normal conditions the central nervous system is protected by the operation of the blood- brain barrier (BBB). Following brain injury (either traumatic or ischemic) the BBB is known to disrupt, leading to focal edema and altered extracellular composition. We have recently established methods for quantitative evaluation of the integrity of the BBB using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans. Using these methods we are able to identify BBB disruption in patients suffering from various pathologies (Tomkins, O. et al. 2001; Avivi, E. et al. 2004). Such altered permeability may last up to years following the acute event and was found to correlate to areas of abnormal neurological function (Korn, A. et al. 2005)

In recent work using an animal model, we have shown that following focal disruption of the BBB a focus of epileptiform activity is generated within several days. Such pathological
Sponsor: Soroka University Medical Center

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Information By: Soroka University Medical Center

Dates:
Date Received: January 7, 2007
Date Started:
Date Completion:
Last Updated: January 7, 2007
Last Verified: November 2006