Researchers have developed a sort of algorithm capable of preventing the onset of an epileptic seizure several days in advance. A discovery that could improve the daily lives of millions of people.
Hitherto unpredictable crises
The epileptic seizure can strike at any time, acting like a sword of Damocles for the 50 million people who suffer from epilepsy around the world.
A fatality that Swiss and American researchers wanted to remedy: their study published in Lancet Neurology takes an important step forward in work to predict these crises, which has been the subject of unsuccessful research since the 1970s.
A model capable of predicting the onset of a crisis
Researchers from the University Hospital of Bern and the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with researchers from the University of California at San Francisco and Brown Providence University, have created a device to analyze brain activity during and between seizures and therefore whether an epileptic is at risk of seizure.
The device highlights a state called pro-ictal, a level of altered brain activity associated with an increased risk of seizure similar to the image of weather disturbances predicting the arrival of clouds, rain or thunderstorms.
“Recordings of neuronal activity over a period of at least six months, made using a device implanted directly in the brain, make it possible to detect individual cycles of epileptic activity and to provide information on the probability of occurrence of a crisis “, UNIGE said in a press release.
Create a less invasive device
With this revolutionary discovery, the researchers’ goal is now to create a device that is minimally invasive and portable. The device will be developed with the help of the Wyss Center for Bio and Neuroengineering, based at the Biotech campus in Geneva.
