Chronic Brain Implant to Deliver Antiepileptic Medication

Fifty million epilepsy patients around the world suffer from seizures that can diminish their quality of life. Oral medication falls short in treating 45 percent of patients or leads to debilitating side effects. Surgery can ease some seizures, but most patients choose to avoid it because of its invasive nature or associated side effects, while implanted electrical stimulators frequently fail due to scarring. This project team previously developed a chronic brain implant capable of delivering microliters of drug to deep brain structures. The team will perform preclinical rodent studies to directly deliver antiepileptic medication to seizure regions in the brain. With direct drug infusion into seizure generating regions of the brain, the result for patients could be reduced side effects and improved seizure management.