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Neuronal and Network Mechanisms of Electrocortical Stimulation

NCT06391294 · Status: ENROLLING_BY_INVITATION · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 65

Last updated 2025-09-09

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Electrocortical stimulation (ECS) mapping is a procedure used during brain surgeries, for example when treating diseases like epilepsy or when removing brain tumors. ECS mapping helps surgeons locate areas of the cerebral cortex (the outer part of the brain) that are important for everyday tasks like movement and speech. ECS mapping has been used for decades, and is considered the "gold-standard" tool for locating important areas of cortex. Despite this long history, there is still no clear understanding of exactly how ECS works.

The goal of this study is to learn details about the effects ECS has on the brain. The main questions the study aims to answer are: 1) how ECS affects the neurons of the cortex at the stimulation site; and 2) how ECS impacts brain regions that are critically important for human speech and language. These so-called "critical sites" can be physically distant from one another on the brain's surface, requiring extensive ECS mapping and long surgeries. Critical sites are thought to be part of a speech/language network of brain areas, and so the study's goal is to learn about how they are connected. In some participants, the brain's surface will also be slightly cooled. This is a painless procedure that does not harm the brain's function, but could provide insight as to which parts of the brain (the surface, or deeper parts) are responsible for the effects of ECS.

By improving the understanding of how ECS affects the brain and improving the ability to identify critical sites, this study could potentially lead to shorter surgeries and better outcomes for future individuals who need this care.

Participants will be recruited from among individuals who are undergoing brain surgery for epilepsy treatment or tumor removal. Participants will complete simple tasks like reading words or naming pictures, similar to standard testing that is already performed during their hospital stay.

Conditions

Interventions

PROCEDURE

Focal cortical cooling

Focal cortical cooling will be applied

Sponsors & Collaborators

Principal Investigators

  • Marc Slutzky · Northwestern University

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
80 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-05-17
Primary Completion
2029-06-30
Completion
2030-06-30

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Entities

Diseases
Companies

Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT06391294 on ClinicalTrials.gov