Electrocorticography in Mapping Functional Brain Areas During Surgery in Patients With Brain Tumors

May 18, 2026 updated by: M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Pilot Investigation of Using Electrocorticogram (ECoG) in Predicting Eloquent Cortex and Post-Operative Functional Outcomes in Patients With Brain Tumors

This pilot clinical trial studies how well electrocorticography works in mapping functional brain areas during surgery in patients with brain tumors. Using a larger than the standard mapping grid currently used during brain tumor surgery or a high-definition grid for electrocorticogram brain mapping may help doctors to better identify which areas of the brain are active during specific limb movement and speech during surgery in patients with brain tumors.

Study Overview

Status

Recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

I. To record electrocorticogram (ECoG) data intraoperatively with surface electrode grids during various motor, sensory (tactile) and speech tasks, and identify functional brain areas through the spectral analysis, and compare the preliminary data with our current pre-surgical mapping methods: functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and the gold standard, intraoperative direct electrical stimulation (DES).

SECONDARY OBJECTIVE:

I. To perform a preliminary assessment of the utility of using ECoG data in these patients to quantify new neurological and language/speech deficits in the short term (24 hours) and long-term (1, 3, and 6 months), and achieve a safe maximal tumor resection.

OUTLINE:

Patients undergo tumor resection. During surgery, patients also undergo electrocorticography with either the CorTec high resolution hybrid grid, the PMT high-resolution grid, or the Ad-Tech grid followed by direct electrocortical stimulation.

Following completion of study, patients are followed up within 24 hours from surgery and at 1, 3, and 6 months.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

75

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 Contact

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Texas
      • Houston, Texas, United States, 77030
        • Recruiting
        • M D Anderson Cancer Center
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Sujit S. Prabhu

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

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Patients undergoing a tumor resection at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center for a newly diagnosed as well as recurrent primary or metastatic brain tumor located in or adjacent to motor and/or speech brain areas
  • Patients >= 18 years of age
  • Signed informed consent

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Patients with significant neurological motor deficits of the upper extremities, and/or speech deficits, which would preclude them from performing the while awake intra-operative tasks at the discretion of the principal investigator (PI)
  • Patients who have impaired vision and/or hearing and whose performance could affect the study will be excluded at the discretion of the PI

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: Diagnostic
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Diagnostic (electrocorticography)
Patients undergo tumor resection. During surgery, patients also undergo electrocorticography with either the CorTec high resolution hybrid grid, the PMT high-resolution grid, or the Ad-Tech grid followed by direct electrocortical stimulation.
Procedure: Direct Electrocortical Stimulation
Undergo direct electrocortical stimulation
Other Names:
  • ESM
  • DCES
  • Direct Cortical Electrical Stimulation
  • Electrocortical Stimulation Mapping
Other: Electrocorticography
Undergo electrocorticography
Other Names:
  • ECoG

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Electrocorticogram (ECoG)
Time Frame: Up to 6 months (± 4 weeks)
Will be assessed by cortical electrical activity based on individual hand muscle function. ECoG will be compared to direct electrical stimulation (DES), navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS), and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The data obtained using ECoG will be correlated with the fMRI and TMS data acquired preoperatively and intraoperative DES. The categorical variables would be preoperative Karnofsky performance status and functional status, tumor location, fMRI, TMS, ECoG, and DES data points. Other variables involved in the analysis would be extent of resection and neurological and language/speech outcome. The Chi-square or Fisher's exact tests will be used to explore associations between categorical variables. Additional analysis may be performed.
Up to 6 months (± 4 weeks)

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Collaborators

National Cancer Institute (NCI)
University of Houston

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Sujit S Prabhu, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

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.

Helpful Links

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 (Actual)

July 22, 2016

Primary Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

January 1, 2028

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 25, 2016

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 25, 2016

First Posted (Estimated)

April 28, 2016

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 20, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 18, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2015-0775 (Other Identifier: M D Anderson Cancer Center)
  • NCI-2016-00794 (Registry Identifier: CTRP (Clinical Trial Reporting Program))

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

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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