Recruitment of Epileptic Dogs for Seizure Studies Continues at North Carolina State University's Veterinary School
Epilepsy is a major health problem in domestic dogs and hence an added anxiety for owner
We need your help to improve treatment of epileptic dogs
Keppra Study :
1) The CVM Neurology Service is currently evaluating the clinical trial demonstrating the possible effectiveness of the pharmaceutical drug Keppra as an additional therapy in the treatment of canine epilepsy aims to recruit 10-15 more dogs t o complete this important study in canine epilepsy. Dr. Karen Munana, principal investigator of the study notes that initial results demonstrate that this drug may be effective controlling seizures in some dogs with epilepsy. By adding 10-15 more dogs to this study base, statistical summaries will provide additional information to firm up this claim. . The study is multi-institutional study, with Veterinary veterinary Neurologists neurologists from North Carolina State University, the University of Tennessee, and Virginia Tech,Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine participating.
Morris Animal Foundation has recently extended funding for this study, and we are recruiting an additional 10-15 dogs with epilepsy.
The additional Canine patients accepted into the study would also need to fit the following criteria: onset of seizures between 1-5 years of age with no other major underlying disease, currently on therapeutic levels of Phenobarbital and Potassium Bromide and still experiencing seizures each month. Owners must be able to bring their dogs to a participating veterinary institution approximately 6-8 times during the 44 week study period.
The cost of study medications and all study related evaluations and blood work are completed at no cost to the owners.
If additional information is needed for interested referring veterinarians and/or owners please contact Dr. Karen Munana at NCSU Neurology Service, (919) 513-6714 Fax or email study research technician ,Julie_Osborne@ncsu.edu or Pragna_Mehta@ncsu.edu or fax inquiries to 919-513-5830. More information regarding this study can also be found on http://cvm.ncsu.edu/epilepsyresearch/currentstudies.html http://cvm.ncsu.edu/epilepsyresearch/currentstudies.html
Herding Breeds Study :
2.) MDR-1 Study in Herding Breeds with Epilepsy: We are recruiting Collies, Shelties and Australian Shepherds with epilepsy for this geneticstudy. Owners will not need to come to NCSU, but will be mailed brushesfor sampling. Test results will be provided to the owners at no-cost.
Nationwide Canine Epilepsy Database :
3) Nationwide Database of Pets with Epilepsy: On the website, http://cvm.ncsu.edu/epilepsyresearch/ we have an online survey that anyowner of a pet with epilepsy can complete. As we look at additiona lstudies, we will periodically contact these owners if their dogs are needed for recruitment and decrease our study completion time hopefully!
Phenobarbital Study
Dear owners of epileptic dogs!
I am writing to let you know about a new research project that may lead to new approaches to managing drug treatment for epileptic dogs. The project is being performed in the Department of Genetics and College of Veterinary Medicine at North Carolina State University. Much current research is designed to find out why some dogs get epilepsy. We're interested in a more practical question, namely why some dogs fail to respond to anti-epileptic drugs, specifically Phenobarbital. The idea is that there is variation among dogs and breeds in their ability to digest the drug, or deliver it to the right part of the brain, or maybe even in how the drug affects their neurons. This approach has already shown promise as a way to help doctors dose drug treatments for epilepsy in humans. We are going to adopt some of the technology from the Human Genome Project for use in dogs. To do so, we need to compare the DNA from blood samples from dogs that do or do not respond to Phenobarbital, and we need your help in collecting about 200 samples to begin with!
We have a website that is up and running, but is still being tweaked a little bit. It has more information about the project so I encourage you to check it out. .http://cvm.ncsu.edu/epilepsyresearch/currentstudies.html
Currently we are actively recruiting dogs of all breeds (including mixed breeds) that have been or are currently on Phenobarbital as their primary treatment for seizures. We are looking for mainly two groups of dogs: ones diagnosed with epilepsy that are being treated with Phenobarbital that show a response to the drug; and ones with epilepsy being treated with Phenobarbital that have a refractory response to the drug. What we mean by refractory response is the dog still has more than 1 seizure a month despite the fact that it is being treated with Phenobarbital (or requires additional medications like Potassium Bromide to control the seizures). Responsive dogs are ones being treated with Phenobarbital alone that have less than 1 seizure a month. Please note that it does not matter if your dog eventually became responsive after a few years, or as a result of a change in diet - we would still be able to use the blood samples to type your dog.
To participate in the study we would need a 3-5ml blood sample from your dog. This can be collected at your own convenience with your personal veterinarian or at the North Carolina State University Veterinary School if you live in the proximity of Raleigh, NC.
If you are interested in submitting a sample please email me at carolinacanineepilepsy@gmail.com or fill out the survey on the website above.
Thank you,
Erin Kennerly
Doctoral Student
NCSU - Dept. of Genetics
Dr. Greg Gibson's Lab
(919) 513-3090
carolinacanineepilepsy@gmail.com