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Scientists create detailed brain maps to protect language during surgery

NCT ID NCT05989893

Knowledge-focused Sponsor: The University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston Source: ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

What the study statuses mean

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Recruitment status, easiest to join first

Recruiting now This study
This trial is taking on new participants right now.
Not yet recruiting
Registered, but not yet taking participants.
By invitation only
Not open to general applications. Only people the study team invites can take part.
Paused
Paused for now. It may or may not start again.
Ongoing
Running, but no longer taking on new participants.
Completed
The trial has finished. Results may not be published yet.
Stopped early
Stopped early, before it reached the end. That can be for many reasons, including safety.
Cancelled
Cancelled before anyone took part.

Expanded access (not trials)

Expanded access
Not a trial. This treatment can be requested outside a study, case by case, for people who qualify.
Expanded access (paused)
Not a trial. The treatment can normally be requested outside a study, but is unavailable right now.
Expanded access (ended)
Not a trial. The treatment could once be requested outside a study, but no longer can.
Approved
The treatment has been approved, so it is available normally rather than through this programme.

When the status isn't known

Details not published
The full record has not been published yet, so there is little to show here.
Status unknown
This status has not been confirmed recently, so it may be out of date.

First seen Jul 14, 2026 · Last updated Jul 15, 2026 · Updated 1 time

Summary

This study aims to map the brain regions essential for language and cognition in people with epilepsy or brain tumors. Participants perform language-based tasks while their brain activity is recorded using fMRI or electrical stimulation. The goal is to compare brain organization between healthy individuals and patients, and to create spatial probability maps that can guide surgeons to avoid critical language areas during operations.

What this could mean

Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.

Active substance
language-based tasks (behavioral intervention)
What this could lead to
If successful, this could create detailed brain maps that help surgeons avoid damaging essential language areas during epilepsy or tumor surgery.
What could go wrong
This is an observational mapping study, not a treatment trial. Results may not apply to everyone, and individual brain organization varies widely.

This is an AI summary of the original study and may miss details. Read our disclaimer.

Study facts

What this study's own registry entry says, in plain language.

Phase

Not a phased trial

Phase numbers describe drug development. The registry uses this when they do not apply, as it does for trials of devices, procedures or behaviour changes, and for observational studies.

Participants

About 75 people

The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.

Started

Aug 2022

Expected to finish

Jul 2028

An estimate. End dates often move.

Lead sponsor

Other sponsor

The registry's catch-all category, for sponsors it does not file as a company, a government agency, or a research network.

Who can take part

This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.

Ages

18 to 75 years

Sex

Anyone

Healthy volunteers

Not accepted

This study is not open to healthy volunteers. The entry requirements below say who it is open to.

Show the full entry requirements

Copied word for word from the study's registry entry, so the wording is the study team's rather than ours.

Inclusion Criteria: * patients with medically refractory epilepsy who are scheduled to undergo or have previously undergone placement of sub-dural electrodes (including depth electrodes) to localize the site of seizure onset and to map the locations of critical language and motor regions * patients with epilepsy, brain tumors or cortically based vascular malformations (cavernous malformations or arterio-venous malformations) with lesions that are/were proximate to crucial brain regions, and who are scheduled to undergo or have previously undergone intra-op mapping of motor, visual or language function, or a Wada test, or maybe part of an awake craniotomy. * proficiency in English Exclusion Criteria: * Gross structural abnormalities (large hamartomata, tumors, large vascular malformations, very large diffuse malformations of cortical development) that may have impacted upon the location of critical brain areas. * Unable to participate in testing due to impaired cognition or mental retardation. * Cardiac pacemakers, intracranial aneurysm clips, or other potentially mobile implanted metallic devices * Patients with claustrophobia who cannot undergo an MRI scan without sedation

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Conditions

The condition(s) this trial relates to.

brain cancer brain neoplasm epilepsy visual epilepsy

As listed by the trial registrant

The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.

Brain tumor Epilepsy

How to take part

Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.

  1. The places running it

    1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.

  2. The official record

    ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.

    Open the record ↗

  3. A doctor treating you

    A doctor who knows your case can contact a study site on your behalf, and can tell you whether this study is worth pursuing at all.

Contacts and locations

Locations

  • The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

    RECRUITING

    Houston, Texas, 77479, United States

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