title: A prestimulation evaluation protocol for patients with drug resistant epilepsy.
abstract: Neurostimulation is making its way into the therapeutic armamentarium of the epileptologists, with several invasive neurostimulation modalities available today and several less invasive modalities under investigation. Clinicians will soon face a choice that should not be made randomly. We introduce the concept of a prestimulation evaluation protocol, consisting of a series of rationally chosen investigations that evaluate the presence of biomarkers for response to various neurostimulation therapies. These biomarkers should reflect the susceptibility of the individual's epileptic network to a given neurostimulation technique. This will require elucidation of the specific mechanism(s) of action of the different neurostimulation modalities. This manuscript provides a hypothetical framework that may be more applicable in the near future when pre-clinical research progresses and can be translated into human applications.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium. Electronic address: sofie.carrette@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Sofie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Carrette
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Boon
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent, Belgium.
authors.forename: Kristl
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vonck
mesh_terms: D000069279:Drug Resistant Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D004599:Electric Stimulation Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D004567:Electrodes, Implanted; D006801:Humans; D012107:Research Design
keywords: Epilepsy; Neurostimulation; Response prediction; Treatment