Department of Neurosurgery, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A; Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
Epilepsia. 2013 Dec;54 Suppl 9:35-9. doi: 10.1111/epi.12441.
Epilepsy is a disease of recurrent seizures that can be associated with a wide variety of acquired and developmental brain lesions. Current medications for patients with epilepsy can suppress seizures; they do not cure or modify the underlying disease process. On the other hand, surgical removal of focal brain regions that produce seizures can be curative. This surgical procedure can be more precise with the placement of intracranial recording electrodes to identify brain regions that generate seizure activity as well as those that are critical for normal brain function. The detail that goes into these surgeries includes extensive neuroimaging, electrophysiology, and clinical data. Combined with precisely localized tissues removed, these data provide an unparalleled opportunity to learn about the interrelationships of many "systems" in the human brain not possible in just about any other human brain disorder. Herein, we describe a systems biology approach developed to study patients who undergo brain surgery for epilepsy and how we have begun to apply these methods to patients whose seizures are associated with brain tumors. A central goal of this clinical and translational research program is to improve our understanding of epilepsy and brain tumors and to improve diagnosis and treatment outcomes of both.
癫痫是一种反复发作的疾病，可与多种获得性和发育性脑损伤相关。目前用于癫痫患者的药物可以抑制癫痫发作，但不能治愈或改变潜在的疾病进程。另一方面，通过手术切除产生癫痫的局部脑区可以达到治愈效果。这种手术可以通过放置颅内记录电极来更精确地定位，以识别产生癫痫活动的脑区以及对正常脑功能至关重要的脑区。这些手术的详细信息包括广泛的神经影像学、电生理学和临床数据。结合精确切除的组织，这些数据为了解人类大脑中许多“系统”的相互关系提供了无与伦比的机会，而在其他任何人类大脑疾病中都不可能实现。在这里，我们描述了一种用于研究因癫痫而接受脑部手术的患者的系统生物学方法，以及我们如何开始将这些方法应用于那些癫痫与脑瘤相关的患者。该临床和转化研究项目的一个核心目标是增进我们对癫痫和脑瘤的理解，并改善两者的诊断和治疗效果。
