Sound waves aimed at the brain may quiet temporal lobe seizures
NCT ID NCT05947656
First seen Sep 10, 2026 · Last updated Sep 11, 2026 · Updated 1 time
Summary
Researchers are testing a non-invasive device that uses focused ultrasound to target the hippocampus, a brain region involved in temporal lobe epilepsy. The study enrolls adults whose seizures continue despite medication. Participants receive ultrasound treatments twice a week for two to three weeks, with brain imaging and cognitive tests before and after to check safety and any effect on seizures.
What this could mean
Our plain-language read of the trial. This is informational only, not medical advice or a prediction.
- Active substance
- NaviFUS focused ultrasound system, a non-invasive device that uses neuronavigation to aim low-intensity ultrasound through the skull at the hippocampus
- What this could lead to
- If it works, this could offer a non-surgical way to calm the brain regions that trigger temporal lobe seizures, possibly helping people whose epilepsy does not respond to medication.
- What could go wrong
- This is a small, early pilot study with no control group, so any seizure reduction could be due to chance or placebo. Focused ultrasound to the brain may cause headaches, mood or memory changes, or other side effects, and the treatment might not reduce seizures at all.
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
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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
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About 18 people
The number the study aims to enrol. It can still change while the study runs.
- Started
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Oct 2023
- Expected to finish
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Jun 2027
An estimate. End dates often move.
- Lead sponsor
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A company
The lead sponsor is a pharmaceutical, biotech, or medical-device company.
Who can take part
This study's own entry requirements. Only the study team can say for certain whether you qualify.
- Ages
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18 years and older
- Sex
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Anyone
- Healthy volunteers
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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 Hide 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: 1. Diagnosis of drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) 2. Patients must experience at least four (4) observable seizures over the 60-day baseline, each on a separate day. 3. Patients have focal-onset seizures with or without secondary generalization. 4. Patients have had at least 24 hours video-electroencephalography (EEG) monitoring and comprehensive epilepsy evaluation confirming TLE. 5. Seizure medication treatment is anticipated to remain stable during the trial, except for rescue medicines or occasional extra doses of ongoing medicines, as required. 6. Patients should be capable of and willing to completing assessments and neuropsychological testing in English either alone or with the help of the study partner (where appropriate), per local guidelines. A study partner is a carer or family member of the patient. 7. Patients and study partner (if applicable) who in the Investigator's opinion are reliable and able to use the seizure diary to record seizure throughout the study and are willing to comply with study procedures and visits. Exclusion Criteria: 1. Patients who have primary generalized epilepsy or non-epileptic seizures in the last two (2) years. 2. More than two (2) seizure onset zones (foci) (except bitemporal foci) or unknown likely site of seizure onset, as determined by usual clinical, electroencephalography (EEG) and imaging practice. 3. Patients who have experienced tonic-clonic status epilepticus in the three (3) months leading up to enrollment in the study. 4. Presence of devices including but not limited to cardiac pacemaker, implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD), permanent medication pumps, cochlear implants, responsive neurostimulator (RNS) or deep brain stimulation (DBS). Vagus nerve stimulators (VNS) do not represent an exclusion criterion, but settings should be stable throughout the trial. 5. Patients with clips or other metallic implanted objects in the FUS exposure path, except shunts. 6. Patients with more than thirty percent (30%) of the skull area traversed by the sonication pathway covered by scars, scalp disorders (e.g., eczema), or atrophy of the scalp at Screening. 7. Patients who have a medical or surgical history of severe systemic disease(s), such as (but not limited to) coronary artery disease, myocardial infarct, progressive heart failure, uncontrolled hypertension or abnormal ECG, severe pulmonary hypertension (pulmonary artery pressure \> 90 mmHg), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), adult respiratory distress syndrome, hepatic and renal insufficiency (ALT or AST 3 times above normal range; serum creatinine \> 1.3 mg/dL), diabetic patients with poor control of blood sugar (HbA1c \> 8.5 %) at Screening. 8. History of intracranial hemorrhage. 9. History of multiple strokes, or a stroke within the six (6) months prior to Screening. 10. Patients with intracranial aneurysms requiring treatment or arterial venous malformations (AVMs) requiring treatment at any time. 11. Presence of central nervous system (CNS) disease(s) other than epilepsy including but not limited to infections of the CNS (e.g., syphilis, Lyme disease, borreliosis, viral or bacterial meningitis/encephalitis, human immunodeficiency virus \[HIV\] encephalopathy), cerebral vascular disease, Parkinson's disease, traumatic brain injury, alcoholic encephalopathy within three (3) years prior to Screening. 12. Patients with concurrent major psychiatric disorder, such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, severe depression, active suicidal ideation, active psychosis (excluding time-limited postictal psychosis) or psychiatric hospitalization within one (1) year before Screening. 13. Prior diagnosis of cancer within the past two (2) years and evidence of continued malignancy within the past two (2) years (except for adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer, in situ cervical cancer, or in situ prostate cancer with normal prostate-specific antigens post resection). 14. Patients who are not able or willing to tolerate the required prolonged stationary semi-supine position during treatment. 15. Inability to tolerate MRI procedures or contraindication to MRI (e.g. claustrophobia, too large for MRI scanner), including, but not limited to, presence of pacemakers (with the exception of MRI-safe pacemakers), aneurysm clips, artificial heart valves, ear implants, or foreign metal objects in the eyes, skin, or other areas of the body that would contraindicate an MRI scan. 16. Patients who had major surgery six (6) weeks before study enrollment or who are not fully recovered from a surgical procedure or with planned surgery during study period or within fourteen (14) days thereafter. 17. Patients who have received radiofrequency thermocoagulation (RFTC) within two (2) months of Screening.
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Conditions
The condition(s) this trial relates to.
As listed by the trial registrant
The condition terms exactly as the trial's registrant entered them.
How to take part
Only the study team decides who joins. These are the ways to reach them.
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The places running it
1 site. The list below names each one and where it is.
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The official record
ClinicalTrials.gov lists the study team's own contact details, including names and phone numbers. We don't republish those.
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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
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The Alfred
RECRUITINGMelbourne, Victoria, 3004, Australia
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Other studies related to the condition(s) this trial covers.
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- Can a High-Fat diet and therapy tame seizures in rare childhood epilepsy?
- Zapping the brain without surgery: a new hope for Tough-to-Treat epilepsy
- Nerve block may cut opioid needs after epilepsy device surgery
- Sound waves aimed at the brain could quiet seizures