Clinical Trial of Light Therapy for Epilepsy

December 8, 2009 updated by: University College, London

A Randomised Placebo Controlled Clinical Trial of Light Therapy for Medically Intractable Epilepsy.

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.

Study Overview

Status

Unknown

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed 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 Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Anticipated)

100

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Locations

  • United Kingdom
      • London, United Kingdom, WC1N 3BG
        • National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery

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

16 years to 63 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adult
  • Medically intractable epilepsy
  • Min 4 complex partial seizures/ month

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Ability to give informed consent
  • Underlying progressive neurological condition

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

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Placebo Comparator: 100 lux
100 lux / 30 minutes day
Other: 100 lux
Placebo light
Experimental: Light Therapy 10,000 lux
10,000 lux / 30 minutes a day for 3 months
Other: Light Therapy
10,000 lux / 30 minutes a day
Other Names:
  • Diamond 4 light box

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Number of seizures/month
Time Frame: 3 months
3 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Mood
Time Frame: 3 months
3 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University College, London

Collaborators

Action Medical Research

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

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 Start

September 1, 2010

Primary Completion (Anticipated)

April 1, 2011

Study Completion (Anticipated)

September 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 8, 2009

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 8, 2009

First Posted (Estimate)

December 9, 2009

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 9, 2009

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 8, 2009

Last Verified

December 1, 2009

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 09 H0716 68

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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