How can the new generation of MEG machines help patients awaiting epilepsy surgery?
EXPLORE PILOT STUDY
£29,583 over 24 months, awarded in 2023
Dr Caroline Witton
Aston University
Children who are awaiting surgery for epilepsy are sometimes referred for a “MEG recording” – a kind of brain scan which can localise the source of their epilepsy when other tests have failed. Although MEG has been available for several decades and is well-established as useful tool for surgeons, to help them decide where in the brain to operate, it is not very widely used.
While the current generation of MEG machines are large and uncomfortable for children, the new generation, called OPM-MEG, are lightweight, wearable devices. However, they provide slightly different data and we don’t yet know how well they compare to the traditional machine.
"We are very grateful for this funding, which will help us improve the experience of having a MEG scan for patients with epilepsy. We are excited to work with our partners at Young Epilepsy, to each share expertise, and to develop methods for using OPM-MEG to help guide neurosurgery. We hope that our research will make a huge difference to the patient experience, especially young children for whom traditional MEG methods don’t work well. Thank you to the supporters of Epilepsy Research UK for making this possible!
This pilot project will conduct the first direct comparison for epilepsy patients between MEG recordings using traditional MEG and OPM-MEG. We will compare data collected from the same patients on a traditional machine at Aston University and an OPM-MEG at Young Epilepsy. We will compare the required data analyses, and importantly ask patients what they think about each experience.
We will ask 10 patients and their families who are referred to Aston University (from Birmingham Children’s Hospital) to volunteer to travel to Young Epilepsy to undertake an OPM-MEG recording as well as their standard one. We will also invite them to an interview to discuss their experiences.
The potential impact for patients and their families is that the work will improve the results – and patient experience – of OPM-MEG, which should be more comfortable for patients and do have lower running costs than traditional machines.
This work is expected to help us understand how to get the best out of OPM-MEG data, to encourage more centres to install OPM-MEG, helping patients who are awaiting surgery but might not be able to undergo a traditional MEG recording.
