Scientists develop epilepsy warning device

A new small device implanted in the brain has for the first time accurately predicted the onset of epilepsy seizures in humans, scientists said today.
"Knowing when a seizure might happen could dramatically improve the quality of life and independence of people with epilepsy," said Professor Mark Cook, Chair of Medicine at the University of Melbourne.
Cook and his team, with Professors Terry O'Brien and Sam Berkovic, worked with researchers at Seattle-based company, NeuroVista, who developed a device which could be implanted between the skull and brain surface to monitor long-term electrical signals in the brain (EEG data).
They worked together to develop a second device implanted under the chest, which transmitted electrodes recorded in the brain to a hand-held device, providing a series of lights warning patients of the high (red), moderate (white), or low (blue), likelihood of having a seizure in the hours ahead.

The two year study included 15 people with epilepsy aged between 20 and 62 years, who experienced between two and 12 seizures per month and had not had their seizures controlled with existing treatments.
For the first month of the trial the system was set purely to record EEG data, which allowed researchers to construct individual algorithms of seizure prediction for each patient.

The system correctly predicted seizures with a high warning, 65 per cent of the time, and worked to a level better than 50 per cent in 11 of the 15 patients.
Eight of the 11 patients had their seizures accurately predicted between 56 and 100 per cent of the time.

Epilepsy is the second most common neurological disease after stroke, affecting over 60 million people worldwide. Up to 40 per cent of people are unable to control their seizures with existing treatments, researchers said.
"One to two per cent of the population have chronic epilepsy and up to 10 per cent of people will have a seizure at some point in their lives, so it's very common.
"It's debilitating because it affects young people predominantly and it affects them often across their entire lifespan," Cook said.
The study was published in the international medical journal, Lancet Neurology.