Clinical Outcome Research

Patient-oriented epilepsy research at Yale has led to major advances in the diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy. Yale was one of the first centers in the world to perform epilepsy neurosurgery, and remains at the forefront in developing innovative brain imaging methods, deep brain stimulation, other neurosurgical techniques, medication trials, and additional novel approaches. Ongoing projects are listed below.

Frequently Asked Questions

Multicenter 1-Year Observational Study of Patients who are Initiating Brivaracetam

PI: Hamada Hamid Altalib, DO, MPH

Summary: Summary

An Open-Label, Safety and Tolerability Study of Chronic Intermittent Use of Diazepam Buccal Soluble Film (DBSF) in Pediatric, Adolescent and Adult Subjects With Epilepsy.

PI: Hamada Hamid Altalib, DO, MPH

Summary: Summary

Human Epilepsy Project 2 (HEP2): Resistant Focal Seizures Study

PI: Hamada Hamid Altalib, DO, MPH

Summary: Summary

Lyrica 12-Week Study of Visual Field Changes Pregabalin or Placebo

PI: Hamada Hamid Altalib, DO, MPH

Summary: Summary

New Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus (NORSE)

PI:  Lawrence Hirsch, MD

Summary: Summary

Long-term Outcomes of Childhood-Onset Epilepsy

PI:

Anne Berg, Ph.D.

Susan Levy, M.D.

Francine Testa, M.D.

Summary: We are engaged in a longitudinal study of children with newly diagnosed epilepsy, started in 1993. The first phase of the study concerned the prediction of remission, relapse, and intractability early in the course of the disorder. We have addressed several issues concerning the mid-term (5-10 years) seizure outcomes, mortality, status epilepticus, developmental and educational outcomes. We hope to provide information regarding: occurrence of later-appearing intractable epilepsy and the association with hippocampal volumetric measurements. We recently published a paper on the social, educational, behavioral, psychiatric and quality of life outcomes in young adults with childhood onset epilepsy related to seizure outcome. This information will be central to informing evaluation, treatment, management, and counseling approaches for children with epilepsy and their families.

Long-Term Outcome of Epilepsy Surgery

PI: Pue Farooque, DO

Summary: This project is a prospective multimodal outcome study funded by NIH and based at Yale which includes 6 other sites, and follows the seizure, quality of life, cognitive and psychiatric outcomes of respective epilepsy surgery with standard interventions and instruments to measure those aspects of patient response. Ongoing analyses will focus on the interplay between these outcomes, predictors of outcomes, differences in procedures involving various cerebral locations, and other questions that can be addressed using this remarkable database. Individual diagnostic methods, for example MRI with standardized interpretation, or SPECT with ictal injection and co-registration and subtraction processing are part of the diagnostic evaluation, and their interpretation, inter-rater reliability, correlation with other localizing studies, and predictive value for pathology and outcome can be examined in this large contemporary surgical population.

A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Inpatient, Dose-Ranging Efficacy Study of Staccato Alprazolam (STAP-001) in Subjects with Epilepsy with a Predictable Seizure Pattern Tappigraphy in Epilepsy

PI: Adithya Sivaraju, MD, MHA

Summary: Summary