Project

Elucidating the fundamental questions of deep brain stimulation in temporal lobe epilepsy: Where and How to stimulate?

Code
3F020319
Duration
01 November 2019 → 31 October 2023
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Research disciplines
  • Engineering and technology
    • Biomedical modelling
    • Biomedical signal processing
Keywords
epilepsy
 
Project description

With a prevalence of 0.5-1%, epilepsy is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide. Of all focal epilepsies, temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common in adults and most difficult to treat with antiepileptic drugs. In most cases, surgical removal of the hippocampus results in seizure freedom. However, this involves high risks for cognitive problems. For patients, who are not amenable to resective surgery, the last resort are neurostimulation techniques, e.g., deep brain stimulation (DBS). However, with these techniques seizure freedom is still rare. The research goal is to find answers to the fundamental questions where and how to stimulate for the treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy. This investigation will be performed through simulations on biophysically detailed computational network models of the whole hippocampal formation. Therefore, two models will be developed, a control and an epileptic model. Consequently, they will be used to investigate the underlying mechanisms of deep brain stimulation and its effect on seizure dynamics. This will be done with a parameter sweep of the stimulation protocol (e.g., waveform and amplitude) and a location sweep. This approach will result in the deepest understanding of the underlying mechanisms, which will contribute to the design of better DBS treatments.