Clinical Neurophysiology Group

Members

• Toru Horinouchi
  M.D., Ph.D.
  Chief / Assistant Professor
• Yuichi Nakamura
  M.D.
  Medical Staff / Graduate Student

Research contents

Our group performs clinical practice of epilepsy and studies on them.

Presently, pediatrics, psychiatry, neurology and neurosurgery departments engage in epilepsy treatment in Japan, taking advantages of their characteristics.

We mainly engage in pharmacotherapy of epilepsy while we make an effort for treatment of cases with psychiatric symptoms or psychogenic nonepileptic seizures.

Since epilepsy is chronic disease, we attempt not only to stop seizure but also to provide treatment and support to the patients so as to have their QOL improved.

In our studies, we have performed radioisotope examinations such as SPECT and PET, and noninvasive pathologic condition analyses of epilepsy using magnetoencephalogram.

In recent years, we examine the influence of anticonvulsant on psychiatric and cognitive functions, pursuing pharmacotherapy with fewer side effects.

Further, we have developed biofeedback system with electrodermal activity in cooperation with School of Engineering, Hokkaido University.

We are presently verifying it's seizure depression effect.

In some epileptic patients, some psychiatric symptoms such as depression, hallucination or delusions appears before and after seizure or in inter-seizure interval.

Epilepsy is an important model of organic mental disorder.

We are conducting everyday clinical practice and studies, believing that elucidating these pathophysiology leads to elucidation of pathologic conditions for endogenous mental disorder such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.