Monitoring Brain Activity in Human Brain Injury

July 31, 2007 updated by: Soroka University Medical Center

Incidence, Nature and Consequences of Cortical Depolarizations in Human Brain Injury From Trauma and Ischemia: The COSBID Study

The outcome of brain injury (physical or stroke) may be related to a brain electrical phenomenon known as Cortical Spreading Depression (CSD). This is a brief cessation of function in a local region of brain tissue. It has been hypothesized that CSD may occur after brain injury and may expand the damage to adjacent brain areas. Our aim is to detect CSD by means of intracranial electrodes in patients with brain injuries and asses how these events alter the outcome of the patients.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

Cortical spreading depression (CSD) is a wave of mass neuronal firing and neuronal and glial depolarisation which propagates through grey matter in the central nervous system in response to a pathologic stimulus, at a rate of between 1 and 5 mm per minute. First described by Leão in 1944 as a sudden depression of ECoG amplitude spreading across the cortex of the rabbit (Leao, A. A. P. 1944), CSD can be elicited in experimental animals by chemical, electrical, and mechanical stimuli, with varying degrees of ease. CSD provoked in healthy, normally perfused neural tissue does not induce persistent metabolic stress or cellular damage, and indeed such induction of CSD in animal experiments may confer protection against the adverse effects of a subsequent ischaemic insult (Kobayashi, S. et al. 1995).

In animal models of focal cerebral ischaemia, usually induced by occlusion of the middle cerebral artery, a spontaneous phenomenon occurs around the periphery of the core territory, with electrophysiological features essentially identical with CSD, and similar capacity to propagate across cerebral cortex. Designated "peri-infarct depolarisation" (PID), this event is associated with infarct expansion, or recruitment of at-risk cortical territory into the expanding core, and has been shown capable of causing this expansion, in the absence of therapeutic intervention. Indeed it has been hypothesized that glutamate release may be involved in PID generation, and that excitotoxicity may accomplish detrimental effects via this route (Hossmann, K. A. 1994), (Obrenovitch, T. P. and Urenjak, J. 1997). Some experimental neuroprotection treatments for stroke act to decrease the incidence of PID (Iijima, T. et al. 1992;Chen, Q. et al. 1993;Busch, E. et al. 1996).

In traumatic and ischaemic (especially in middle cerebral artery occlusion and aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage) brain injury in humans, a phase of delayed deterioration often associated with severe and refractory brain swelling develops between 2 and 5 days after the initial ictus, and is associated with poor or fatal outcome. The cause and mechanism of this deterioration remain poorly understood, and the possibility exists that CSD/PID events might contribute to deterioration.

To date, CSD or PID have been reported in only ten human subjects in two papers (Mayevsky, A. et al. 1996; Strong, A. J. et al. 2002). Strong et al. reported that transient ECoG suppressions suggestive of depolarisations are common - but by no means universal - after brain injury in humans. Sub-dural ECoG electrode strips were placed in 14 patients who had undergone craniotomy for trauma or intracranial hemorrhage; monitoring was for up to 60 h following the injury. Five of these patients (36%) showed patterns of ECoG depression consistent with PID/CSD in brain regions adjacent to the primary injury.

Study Type

Observational

Enrollment (Anticipated)

100

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Locations

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

Immediately following:

  • traumatic brain injury
  • aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage or
  • spontaneous intracerebral haematoma or
  • stroke involving cerebral cortex

Exclusion Criteria:

  • GCS = 3
  • Bilateral fixed & dilated pupils or other evidence of massive irreversible brain injury
  • more than 5 days post Injury/ictus.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Observational Models: Defined Population
  • Time Perspectives: Prospective

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jens Dreier, MD, Charite, Berlin, Germany

Publications and helpful links

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Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Completion

September 1, 2007

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 22, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 23, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

November 24, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

August 1, 2007

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 31, 2007

Last Verified

October 1, 2005

More Information

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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