Radiotherapy center Maastro in Maastricht is conducting research into the treatment of epilepsy with precision radiotherapy. There are about 45,000 people in the Netherlands with a form of epilepsy that cannot be cured by regular treatments. New treatments to help this group of patients as well are therefore desperately needed.
Epilepsy patients are often treated with drugs or brain surgery. In some patients, however, these treatments do not work sufficiently. Also, in some patients, brain surgery is not possible. This new study examines whether precision radiotherapy can provide a solution in this group of patients. Precision radiotherapy is a form of external beam irradiation in which the area where the epilepsy develops is irradiated very precisely with narrow beams from many different angles. In this way, a high dose of radiation is delivered to a small area during a single radiation treatment.
Hopeful results
In other countries, where patients are already treated with precision radiation, the results are hopeful. In most patients, the number of seizures decreases significantly two years after treatment. Some patients even stop having seizures altogether.
Several organizations in the Netherlands are participating in the study. In addition to Maastro, the study is also being conducted at Maastricht UMC+, Amsterdam UMC and UMC Utrecht and the two epilepsy centers in the Netherlands.
Control group
To investigate whether epileptic seizures can be reduced with precision radiotherapy, patients participating in the study will be divided into two groups. One group will receive the precision radiation immediately, the other group will first continue their current treatment for two years and then still receive the precision radiation. The results of the two groups are then compared to see what effect the radiation had compared to the patients who continued their regular treatment. The division into two groups is done on a lottery basis.
Treating epilepsy with AI
The Medisch Spectrum Twente also applied a new treatment method to two Dutch epilepsy patients a few years ago. This involved receiving an implant behind the ear that can continuously measure brain signals (EEG). The signals are analyzed using artificial intelligence (AI). That analysis can then be used to improve treatment by administering stimuli to a nerve in the neck. The treatment of epilepsy through these so-called “AI implants” is known as “vagus nerve stimulation. The artificial intelligence required for this was developed at the University of Twente (UT).
