Specific mechanisms of death in “Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy” (SUDEP) are not well understood, but seizure related breathing problems are probably important in many cases. Dr. Sainju’s team will investigate whether patients who have a depressed interictal breathing response to rising carbon dioxide levels in the blood are more likely to have seizure related breathing abnormalities. They also plan to test the effect of fluoxetine in reversing this depressed breathing response and in reducing the severity of seizure related breathing abnormalities. This study may identify a new biomarker for patients at high risk for SUDEP and a novel treatment to be tested in future studies.
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