Why it matters?
Impairments of speech, reading and general clumsiness can be seen in children with Rolandic epilepsy. These problems could be an indication of significant global brain changes. However, routine brain imaging is usually normal. This would suggest that any changes are hard to identify. To explore subtle changes requires a detailed investigation of brain structure. If changes are identified, this could improve our understanding of why cognitive problems occur in this condition. This could potentially lead to new treatments and therapies for children with Rolandic epilepsy.
What we are doing?
Neuroimaging and neuropsychological methods will be used to investigate the structure and function of brains in children with Rolandic epilepsy. The information will be compared to brains in healthy children. This will be repeated once their seizures have stopped.
We aim to investigate:
- What changes occur in brain thickness and how these relate to the quality of connecting pathways
- How different brain regions with altered thickness interact with each other
- How much do brain differences relate to neuro-psychological impairments
Who is conducting the research?
Mr. Stuart Smith, Dr. Anna Smith and Professor Deb Pal at King’s College London.
Who has reviewed this study?
The study is supported by Epilepsy Research UK and the Waterloo Foundation. It has received ethical approval from the Camberwell Research Ethics Committee.
Interested?
If you would like to find out more, please contact Stuart Smith by email at stuart.smith@kcl.ac.uk
Further information:
- Download Information Sheet (Healthy adolescent control)
- Download Information Sheet (Parent / Carer of control)
- Download Information Sheet (Parent / Carer of patient)
- Download Information Sheet (Adolescent with RE)
- Download Consent Form (Parent / Carer)
- Download Consent Form (Participant under 16)
- Download Permission to Contact Form
- What every parent should know about Rolandic Epilepsy
About our research
We are a research group from King’s College London dedicated to finding the cause of childhood epilepsies. Our research explores the genetics of childhood epilepsy in order to improve the outlook for both diagnosis and treatment.
Publications
Childhoodepilepsy.org has a wide range of research publications, and supporting information documents, for parents of children affected by epilepsy, clinicians and research professionals.
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