Clinical Trial of Light Therapy for Epilepsy
Summary
This study is designed to investigate whether light therapy may be an effective treatment for some people with epilepsy. Light treatment is already an established treatment for depression. The chemical systems in the brain that are disrupted when someone becomes depressed, overlap with some of those that can be affected during some epileptic seizures. The investigators have designed this study to see whether light therapy may also lead to a decrease in seizures in people who have epilepsy.
The study will be a placebo controlled trial. This means that half of the participants will receive a therapeutic dose of light therapy from a light box, whilst the other half will only receive a placebo light treatment.
Description
The aim of this study is to investigate a new, non invasive treatment for epilepsy that may be useful as an adjunctive therapy for people whose seizures are poorly controlled with anti epileptic drugs. Light therapy is a well established treatment for some forms of depression. From the cellular level to epidemiological studies, there are numerous strands of evidence in the scientific literature that indicate that light therapy could be also an effective treatment for some people with epilepsy.
The proposed study is a randomised placebo controlled trial of light therapy. One hundred people with medically refractory epilepsy will be recruited. Participants will be randomised to receive either therapeutic or placebo doses of light therapy from an identical device for 30 minutes a day during the treatment phase of the study. The statistical power of this study design is >90% to detect a 25% reduction in seizure frequency during the treatment phase. Although this therapeutic approach is more likely to be palliative than curative, it represents a non invasive and relatively inexpensive add-on treatment option for a sub group of patients who may have reached the end of the road in other medical and surgical treatment options.
Study Design
Allocation: Randomized, Control: Placebo Control, Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment, Masking: Double Blind (Subject, Outcomes Assessor), Primary Purpose: Treatment
Conditions
Epilepsy
Intervention
Light Therapy, 100 lux
Location
National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery
London
United Kingdom
WC1N 3BG
Status
Enrolling by invitation
Source
University College, London
Results (where available)
Links
- Source: http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT01028456
- Information obtained from ClinicalTrials.gov on July 15, 2010
Medical and Biotech [MESH] Definitions
Photosensitivity Disorders
Abnormal responses to sunlight or artificial light due to extreme reactivity of light-absorbing molecules in tissues. It refers almost exclusively to skin photosensitivity, including sunburn, reactions due to repeated prolonged exposure in the absence of photosensitizing factors, and reactions requiring photosensitizing factors such as photosensitizing agents and certain diseases. With restricted reference to skin tissue, it does not include photosensitivity of the eye to light, as in photophobia or photosensitive epilepsy.
Laser Therapy, Low-level
Treatment using irradiation with LASER light of low power intensity so that the effects are not due to heat, as in LASER THERAPY. These non-thermal effects are thought to be mediated by a photochemical reaction that alters CELL MEMBRANE PERMEABILITY, leading to increased mRNA synthesis and CELL PROLIFERATION. Low-level laser therapy has been used for a wide variety of conditions, but most frequently for wound healing and pain control.
Photopheresis
A process in which peripheral blood is exposed in an extracorporeal flow system to photoactivated 8-methoxypsoralen (METHOXSALEN) and ultraviolet light - a procedure known as PUVA THERAPY. Photopheresis is at present a standard therapy for advanced cutaneous T-cell lymphoma; it shows promise in the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
Dihematoporphyrin Ether
The purified component of HEMATOPORPHYRIN DERIVATIVE, it consists of a mixture of oligomeric porphyrins. It is used in photodynamic therapy (HEMATOPORPHYRIN PHOTORADIATION); to treat malignant lesions with visible light and experimentally as an antiviral agent. It is the first drug to be approved in the use of PHOTODYNAMIC THERAPY in the United States.
Myoclonic Epilepsy, Juvenile
A disorder characterized by the onset of myoclonus in adolescence, a marked increase in the incidence of absence seizures (see EPILEPSY, ABSENCE), and generalized major motor seizures (see EPILEPSY, TONIC-CLONIC). The myoclonic episodes tend to occur shortly after awakening. Seizures tend to be aggravated by sleep deprivation and alcohol consumption. Hereditary and sporadic forms have been identified. (From Adams et al., Principles of Neurology, 6th ed, p323)
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