Epileptic Hippocampus in Alzheimer's Disease

Starting soon · Phase 1/Phase 2

Conditions studied: Alzheimer Disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment

In brief

The major goals of the study are to 1) characterize hippocampal activity in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD who have suspected hippocampal epileptic activity based on scalp EEG recordings from IRB # 21-001603; 2) study the efficacy of brivaracetam to suppress epileptic activity and pathological high frequency oscilations (pHFOs) during hippocampal depth electrode and scalp EEG in patients with MCI and AD; and 3) investigate the effects of brivaracetam on cognition in an open-label pilot study.

Key facts

Study ID

NCT05899764

Run by

University of California, Los Angeles

People needed

25

Starts

2026-01-01

Expected to finish

2029-06-01

Last updated by the study team

2026-01-27

Who can join

Age: 45 and older, up to 70. Sex: any. Healthy volunteers: not accepted.

You may qualify if…

• Meet research criteria for mild cognitive impairment (Albert et al. 2011) or Alzheimer's disease (McKhann et al. 2011) with high biomarker probability of Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology
• Ages 45 to 70
• Epileptic activity and/or pHFOs in temporal or fronto-temporal electrodes
• Willing and able informant who has at least weekly contact with subject
• Mini-Mental State Examination score of 18 or greater and/or Clinical Dementia Rating less than 2. These two examinations will be obtained from their participation in UCLA IRB#21-001603 or will be collected if subjects are referred by a clinician.

You may not qualify if…

• Risk factors for epileptic activity besides neurodegenerative disease
• Concurrent use of antiseizure medications
• Severe periventricular white matter disease
• Clinically significant lacunar infarcts
• Anticoagulant use
• Significant systemic medical illness:
• History of Korsakoff's syndrome
• Alcohol or substance abuse preceding dementia \& still present within 5 years of onset
• Untreated vitamin B12 or folate deficiency
• History of head trauma with persistent deficits
• Untreated syphilis
• History of multiple sclerosis or another neuro-inflammatory disorder
• History of vascular or multi-infarct dementia
• Diagnosis of Huntington's disease
• History of normal pressure hydrocephalus
• History of CNS lesions deemed to be clinically significant
• Unresolved or present subdural hematoma
• History of intracerebral hemorrhage
• Systematic liver disease
• Renal insufficiency requiring dialysis
• Encephalitis or meningitis
• Severe white matter disease as defined by a score of 3 on the age-related white matter changes scale
• Lacunar infarcts deemed to be clinically significant
• Cortical stroke
• Respiratory condition requiring oxygen

Where it is running

• Mary S. Easton Center for Alzheimer's Research and Care — Los Angeles, California, United States

Full record on ClinicalTrials.gov

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