Simutaneous fMRI and EEG of Epileptogenic Brain Regions

描述（由申请人提供）：该计划将为候选人提供五年的机会，进一步发展他的研究技能，并将他的精力集中在他自1995年以来与赞助者一起进行的功能磁共振成像（fMRI）和脑电图（EEG）研究上。该研究的最终目标是评估fMRI和EEG （fMRI/EEG）同时记录作为准确定位主要癫痫发生区域（负责癫痫发作的区域）的手段。这项研究的重要性在于，目前还没有任何技术可以精确定位癫痫发生区域，而这种定位对于仅在美国就有成千上万的患者的潜在临床益处，这些患者的癫痫发作对目前的治疗是难治性的。功能磁共振/脑电图（fMRI/EEG）是一种新的脑成像技术，可以在脑电图上描绘癫痫放电时发生的高度局部的脑血管变化。由于fMRI/EEG对代谢特征比较敏感，因此有可能通过代谢与其他区域的差异来区分原发性癫痫发病区域。我们的方法将采用fMRI/EEG结果与癫痫手术项目中可用的多种其他评估结果之间的统计比较。这些评估包括头皮脑电图、颅内脑电图、脑电图源建模、脑磁图、组织病理学、癫痫手术评估结果和癫痫手术结果。总的来说，这项研究利用了一个特别强大的环境，在临床癫痫、癫痫研究和人脑制图方面建立了基础设施。候选人的学术职位横跨加州大学洛杉矶分校的大脑测绘中心和癫痫发作中心，发起人分别是功能磁共振成像和癫痫项目的主任。具有核磁共振研究生研究背景和临床癫痫的奖学金培训，候选人正在发展临床研究，重点是人类大脑测绘技术在癫痫中的应用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed study will provide the candidate a five year opportunity to further develop his research skills and to focus his efforts on the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalography (EEG) research that he has conducted with his sponsors since 1995. The study's ultimate goal is to evaluate simultaneous fMRI and EEG (fMRI/EEG) recordings as a means to accurately localize primary epileptogenic regions, the regions responsible for seizures. The importance of this rests in the current absence of any technique for accurate epileptogenic region localization, and the potential clinical benefit of such localization for the hundreds of thousands of people in the United States alone whose seizures are refractory to current treatments. fMRI/EEG is a new technique in human brain mapping that depicts highly localized cerebrovascular changes as occur during epileptic discharges on EEG. Because fMRI/EEG is sensitive to metabolic characteristics, it potentially may distinguish the primary epileptogenic region through its metabolic difference from other regions. Our approach will employ statistical comparisons between fMRI/EEG results and the results of multiple other assessments available to our epilepsy surgery program. These assessments include scalp EEG, intracranial EEG, EEG source modeling, magnetoencephalography, tissue pathology, epilepsy surgery evaluation outcome, and epilepsy surgery outcome. Overall, the study capitalizes upon an especially strong environment with established infrastructures in clinical epilepsy, epilepsy research and human brain mapping. The candidate's academic position spans UCLA's Brain Mapping Center and Seizure Disorder Center, and the sponsors are the respective directors of the fMRI and epilepsy programs. With a background of graduate research in nuclear magnetic resonance and fellowship training in clinical epilepsy, the candidate is developing a career in clinical research focused on the application of human brain mapping techniques toward epilepsy.