Read Time:
Patterns of brain activity can be used to forecast seizure risk in epilepsy patients several days in advance, according to a new analysis of data obtained from clinically approved brain implants by neuroscientists at UC San Francisco, the University of Bern, and the University of Geneva. For forty years, efforts to predict seizures have focused on developing early warning systems, which at best could give patients warnings just a few seconds or minutes in advance of a seizure. This is the first time anyone has been able to forecast seizures reliably several days in advance, which could really allow people to start planning their lives around when they re at high or low risk, said Vikram Rao, MD, PhD, a neurologist at the UCSF Epilepsy Center, part of the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights. Rao was co-senior author of the new study, which was published December 17, 2020 in
Credit: Me?lanie Proix
Patterns of brain activity can be used to forecast seizure risk in epilepsy patients several days in advance, according to a new analysis of data obtained from clinically approved brain implants by neuroscientists at UC San Francisco, the University of Bern, and the University of Geneva. For forty years, efforts to predict seizures have focused on developing early warning systems, which at best could give patients warnings just a few seconds or minutes in advance of a seizure. This is the first time anyone has been able to forecast seizures reliably several days in advance, which could really allow people to start planning their lives around when they re at high or low risk, said Vikram Rao, MD, PhD, a neurologist at the UCSF Epilepsy Center, part of the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights. Rao was co-senior author of the new study, which was published December 17, 2020 in
Scientific American
Making predictions up to several days in advance may help with care
Advertisement
Seizures are like storms in the brain sudden bursts of abnormal electrical activity that can cause disturbances in movement, behavior, feelings and awareness. For people with epilepsy, not knowing when their next seizure will hit can be psychologically debilitating. Clinicians have no way of telling people with epilepsy whether a seizure will likely happen five minutes from now, five weeks from now or five months from now, says Vikram Rao, a neurologist at the University of California, San Francisco. “That leaves people in a state of looming uncertainty.”
Brain implants give epileptics days of warning about seizures thetimes.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thetimes.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Image credit: Rao lab
Patterns of brain activity can be used to forecast seizure risk in epilepsy patients several days in advance, according to a new analysis of data obtained from clinically approved brain implants by neuroscientists at UC San Francisco, the University of Bern and the University of Geneva.
“For 40 years, efforts to predict seizures have focused on developing early warning systems, which at best could give patients warnings just a few seconds or minutes in advance of a seizure. This is the first time anyone has been able to forecast seizures reliably several days in advance, which could really allow people to start planning their lives around when they’re at high or low risk,” said Vikram Rao, MD, PhD, a neurologist at the UCSF Epilepsy Center, part of the UCSF Helen Diller Medical Center at Parnassus Heights. Rao was co-senior author of the new study, which was published Dec. 17, 2020, in