OPM MEG in pre-surgical mapping for patients with epilepsy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluating novel OPM-magnetoencephalography in pre-surgical mapping for patients with epilepsy
IRAS ID
344071
Contact name
Caroline Witton
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Aston University
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 11 months, 30 days
Research summary
Magnetoencephalography, or "MEG", is a brain-scanning method which has been available for many years. It is used in the UK and worldwide to help patients with epilepsy, who need surgery to resolve their seizures. The MEG scan can help inform the surgeon about where to operate, by mapping the abnormal brain activity caused by epilepsy.
During a traditional MEG recording, patients sit very still with their head in a rigid helmet which houses many tiny sensors. This can be uncomfortable, and there are additional problems if the patient is a child, because the helmet is often too big. We can't record useful data from the very youngest children with a traditional MEG scanner.
But there is a new generation of MEG systems, called OPM-MEG, which employ lightweight sensors housed in a kind of hat. The hat can be appropriately sized for children, and the patient can move comfortably. The new systems are also more cost-effective to run.
We need to know whether the accepted clinical protocols for using MEG in planning epilepsy surgery can be directly transferred to OPM-MEG. We also need to understand how the patient experience compares across systems.
In this project, we will recruit 20 volunteer patients from among those children already having routine pre-surgical MEG recordings Aston University. We will invite them to participate in an OPM-MEG recording in the same facility at Aston University, so that we can compare data from the new OPM-MEG devices with the data from the old MEG scanner.
We will streamline data analysis pipelines, and compare the accuracy of the results to determine whether the improved sensor arrangement for children in the OPM-MEG system leads to better localisation of epileptiform activity.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
24/NS/0113
Date of REC Opinion
29 Sep 2024
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion