Edge AI Neurostimulation Controllers Versus Continuous Therapy for Drug-Resistant Focal Epilepsy

October 28, 2026 updated by: Hania Aamir, Lahore Medical and Dental College

Edge Computing Artificial Intelligence Neurostimulation Controllers Versus Standard Continuous Therapy for Drug Resistant Focal Epilepsy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Drug-resistant focal epilepsy remains a major therapeutic challenge. Conventional neurostimulators rely on static, continuous open-loop stimulation or low-bandwidth reactive loops that suffer from classification latency or high battery consumption. This prospective, double-blind, randomized controlled trial evaluates whether hardware-integrated edge computing artificial intelligence (AI) neurostimulators demonstrate superior seizure reduction, lower processing latency, and reduced battery drain compared to standard continuous neurostimulation therapy over a 6-week intervention period.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Eighty adult patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy undergoing intracranial lead implantation across tertiary referral centers were randomized 1:1 post-implantation into two parallel groups: Edge Computing AI Neurostimulation: Received localized on-hardware machine learning feature extraction and pre-ictal spike classification from intracranial EEG, triggering adaptive targeted high-frequency electrical impulse bursts. Standard Continuous Therapy: Received conventional fixed-frequency, open-loop electrical neurostimulation. The trial evaluated clinical seizure frequency tracked via direct intracortical telemetry logs validated by daily patient diaries, as well as operational hardware metrics including microchip classification latency, real-time inference execution loads, and daily milliampere-hour battery consumption over 6 weeks.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

80

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

  • Pakistan
    • Punjab Province
      • Lahore, Punjab Province, Pakistan, 54570
        • Tertiary Neurosurgical Referral Hospitals

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 to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosed with refractory (drug-resistant) focal epilepsy.
  • Minimum of four electroclinically documented disabling focal seizures per month despite compliance with two or more appropriately chosen antiseizure medications.
  • Scheduled for clinical intracranial lead implantation (subdural grid or depth electrodes).
  • Aged 18 to 65 years at the time of enrollment.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Diagnosis of primary generalized epilepsy.
  • Progressive neurological disorders.
  • Severe cognitive impairment.
  • Active psychiatric conditions.
  • Previous cranial neurostimulation implants.
  • Medical contraindications to surgical implantation or continuous intracortical telemetry.

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: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Edge Computing AI Neurostimulation

Participants received an implantable neurostimulator running local edge computing machine learning algorithms to classify pre-ictal spikes from intracortical EEG in real time, delivering adaptive targeted electrical impulse bursts.
Device: Edge AI Neurostimulator Controller

Hardware-integrated neural processing engine executing real-time feature extraction and pre-ictal spike classification from intracranial EEG, triggering adaptive electrical bursts.
Active Comparator: Standard Continuous Therapy

Participants received continuous open-loop static neurostimulation delivering fixed-frequency electrical pulses regardless of underlying electrical activity.
Device: Continuous Open-Loop Neurostimulator

Static, fixed-frequency continuous open-loop electrical pulse stimulation delivered regardless of underlying electrical activity.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Monthly Clinical Focal Seizure Frequency
Time Frame: Baseline and Week 6 (completion of intervention)

Number of clinical focal seizures per month, recorded continuously via automated direct intracortical telemetry logs and verified against daily patient seizure diaries
Baseline and Week 6 (completion of intervention)

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Microchip Pre-Ictal Classification Latency
Time Frame: Continuously across the 6-week intervention

Local on-hardware signal processing and classification response time measured in milliseconds (ms) from raw intracranial EEG pattern identification to trigger execution.
Continuously across the 6-week intervention
Daily Battery Drain Rate
Time Frame: Continuously across the 6-week intervention

Average daily battery consumption rate measured in milliampere-hours per day (mAh/day) from device telemetry logs.
Continuously across the 6-week intervention
Real-Time Microchip Inference Load
Time Frame: Continuously across the 6-week intervention

Percentage of microchip processing capacity utilized during real-time on-device machine learning execution.
Continuously across the 6-week intervention
Number of Participants with Adverse Events
Time Frame: Throughout the 8-month trial duration

Hardware-related, surgical, or neurological adverse events documented throughout the trial.
Throughout the 8-month trial duration

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Lahore Medical and Dental College

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Ammar Khalil, University of Kotli

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)

June 1, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

January 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 28, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 28, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

November 3, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

November 3, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

October 28, 2026

Last Verified

October 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • UoK1117A

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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