Seizure Prophylaxis IN Glioma (SPRING) opens in the UK!
The first centre has now been opened to enroll patients into the SPRING Trial. The Western General Hospital in Edinburgh opened to recruitment on 10th October and the Walton Centre in Liverpool and Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridge will follow shortly.
What is SPRING?
By Dr. Robin Grant, Chief Investigator
Patients with a brain tumour are at a high risk of having an epileptic seizure. Some seizures are minor, but occasionally they are life threatening. Those who have a seizure worry they may have more. If medication can prevent them it is worthwhile, but if it has side effects it may not be helpful. It is an important question because, one in five patients with a glioma will have epilepsy in the first year after surgery and the highest risk is around surgery. Levetiracetam, is an anti-epileptic drug (AED). It has few side effects and is the most commonly used AED to stop seizures in patients with brain tumour epilepsy.
The question that SPRING will address is whether brain tumour patients, who have never taken a seizure (i.e. don’t have epilepsy), but are at high risk of having a seizure, benefit from taking levetiracetam for a year.
SPRING the first randomised controlled trial of Levetiracetam versus no AED, has just opened and the first of 804 patients has been recruited. This will be, by far, the largest trial ever performed to address this question. It will involve 15 Neuroscience Centres across the UK and will recruit for 3 years.
We are looking to recruit people to the study!
I have been invited to join the SPRING trial, what should I consider?
For any clinical trial it is important to understand as much as possible about the trial before consenting. The hospital will have provided the Patient Information leaflet which contains information about the trial, the nurses or doctors will be happy to answer any questions you might have. The leaflet is also available on the website here if you wish to share this with family/friends.
http://www.springtrial.org.uk/information-sheets/
There is also advice available on charity websites such as Brainstrust about taking part in a clinical trial.
https://brainstrust.org.uk/brain-tumour-support/navigating-your-pathway/clinical-trials/