Epileptiform Potential of Fully Immersive Virtual Reality

August 25, 2026 updated by: Jared.E.Quast, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

The goal of this interventional study is to determine if the use of virtual reality headsets results in an increased risk of seizure in adolescent and adult individuals with epilepsy. The main question it aims to answer are:

- does use of virtual reality headsets with hand controllers result in a higher risk of seizure compared to use of virtual reality headsets without hand controllers Participants will be asked to wear a virtual reality headset during continuous video EEG recording and EEG with be evaluated during three phases: with display turned off, with display turned on without hand controllers, and with display turned on with hand controllers.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

40

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
    • New Hampshire
      • Lebanon, New Hampshire, United States, 03756
        • Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • Jared E Quast, MD

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

  • Child
  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • subjects with known or suspected diagnosis of epilepsy with interictal epileptiform discharges seen during current or prior EEG recording
  • Age greater than or equal to 13 years

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Age less than 13 years (infants, children)
  • Pregnancy
  • Incarceration
  • Moderate-severe cognitive impairment

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

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Virtual Reality Arm
Participants wear VR headset during video EEG recording for a total of 3 sessions, each lasting 15 minutes each.
Other: Virtual Reality Headset, display off
15 minutes of EEG recording with VR headset worn, display turned off. This will act as a baseline for intervention 2 and 3
Other: Virtual Reality Headset, Display only
15 minutes of EEG recording with VR headset worn, display turned on without access to hand controls.
Other: Virtual Reality Headset, Display and Hand Control
15 minutes of EEG recording with VR headset worn, display turned on with access to hand controls

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in prevalence of interictal epileptiform discharges
Time Frame: Three sessions, 15 minutes each
Interictal epileptiform discharges are counted by two epilepsy trained neurologists. Number of discharges seen are compared between each intervention.
Three sessions, 15 minutes each

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Seizure
Time Frame: 3 trials, 15 minutes each
Detection of a clinical or electrographic seizure event occurring with any intervention
3 trials, 15 minutes each

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jared E Quast, MD, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center

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 (Estimated)

December 1, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2027

Study Completion (Estimated)

June 1, 2027

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 12, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 27, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 5, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 27, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 25, 2026

Last Verified

April 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 02002874

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

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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