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Despite treatments that include medications, surgery and neurostimulation devices, many people with epilepsy continue to have seizures. And the uncertainty of when a seizure could occur affects their quality of life.
But what if these people could anticipate a seizure and take action? A recent Mayo Clinic study tested a technology to do just that.
"One of the most disabling aspects of seizures is the unpredictability," says Dr. Benjamin Brinkmann, a Mayo Clinic epilepsy scientist.
The study found patterns could be identified in patients who wore a special wristwatch, allowing about 30 minutes of warning before a seizure occurred. This worked well most of the time for five of six patients studied.
The next step is a larger research study and collecting more data.
"We are putting in for funding to do a larger study and we will spend some time and effort improving our algorithms," says Dr. Brinkmann. "One of the things in this new era that we live in with AI (artificial intelligence) and machine learning is that data is king. We really need to collect lots of data so we can train our algorithms to find these subtle signals."
On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Brinkmann discusses how seizure forecasting might help patients in the future.
To practice safe social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, this interview was conducted using video conferencing. The sound and video quality are representative of the technology used. For the safety of its patients, staff and visitors, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.
Read the full transcript.
For more information and all your COVID-19 coverage, go to the Mayo Clinic News Network and mayoclinic.org.
Connect with others talking about living with epilepsy and supporting one another in the Epilepsy & Seizures support group.
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@jenohara
Hopefully this device will in time do as they “hope” but as of now it’s little more than hope & wishful thinking. I don’t believe its fair to hype it up giving false hope that doesn’t materialize.
As an Epelepsy patient for 55 years I ask two things of the resercher and Mayo Clinic.
Please don’t set this device up as the answer to the problems of Epilepsy sufferer’s therby setting us up for yet another fall, that has happened in the past disappointing so many, it just isn’t right or fair. I don’t believe you understand what we go through.
When the researcher mentioned, at least in my opinion, “embarrassing “ I vehemently disagree a seizure patient should be embarrassed because they have a seizure or that anybody witnessing a seizure should feel embarrassed for us. Unfortunately embarrassment helps perpetuate the unwanted stigma we suffer with in addition to the seizures. When you said you’re only perpetuating the feeling of embarrassment, your enforcing epilepsy patients that perhaps they should be embarrassed wake me up they have Apple website, to tell their friends they have it, to be upfront with their employer, even to admit it to themselves and there families, etc
Please don’t make us feel less than we are or should be.
Thank you,
Jake
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