Epilepsy

2024: "Motorica" launched devices to reduce the frequency of epilepsy attacks

In October 2024, the Russian company LLC Motor Engineering NEMO announced the receipt of indefinite registration certificates for medical devices included in the company's vagus nerve stimulation system (VNS). Rishena These devices are designed to treat pharmacoresistant epilepsy, which affects about 50 million people worldwide. More here

2023

GK "Region" is building a clinic in Moscow to treat children with epilepsy for billions of rubles

On September 6, 2023, it became known about the decision of the Region Group of Companies to build a clinic in Moscow for the treatment of children with epilepsy. The project is being implemented by the MISP company created by the group. The area of ​ ​ the medical center will be 16,000 square meters, and the height is 40 meters. Read more here.

In Russia, accelerated the diagnosis of epilepsy using artificial intelligence

In mid-June 2023, Russian scientists from the Baltic Federal University. Immanuel Kant, together with researchers from the National Medical and Surgical Center. N.I. Pirogov created a program that allows you to speed up the diagnosis of epilepsy and avoid errors in the diagnosis associated with the human factor.

According to Semyon Kurkin, a leading researcher at the Baltic Center for Neurotechnologies and Artificial Intelligence, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, this method represents a system that works on the basis of AI, but does not make a diagnosis. It only helps and assists the doctor and from the point of view of the doctor, the system is absolutely transparent and interpretable. The doctor only needs to understand what the conclusions of the software are based on, and make sure that the computer has made the right recommendation.

Scientists have created a program that allows you to speed up the diagnosis of epilepsy and avoid errors in the diagnosis

Semyon Kurkin said that doctors should analyze all the data obtained and identify the conditions associated with the disease. If records are kept for several days, such a task can take half a day or even more. Kurkin explains that scientists have shown that the AI-based method proposed in our study reduces the amount of recorded data that doctors need to analyze by 95%. This significantly reduces the burden on doctors' routine work and the time required to analyze the data, thereby reducing the likelihood of errors. AI finds and marks disease markers in many hours of EEG records, and the doctor himself decides on the diagnosis.

According to TASS, one of the classic methods of diagnosing epilepsy according to the protocol is brain electroencephalography. This recording takes place over a long period of time, from a few days to months, when data on epileptic seizures and epileptic aura are collected. This is one of the stages of diagnosis of epilepsy, which for 2023 affects about 1% of the world's population.^[1]

A robotic electrode has been created that inserts into the brain, opens up and evaluates its work

On May 11, 2023, Swiss researchers at Lausanne's École Polytechnique Federal reported the development of an innovative flexible electrode that could help treat epilepsy, a chronic, noncommunicable brain disease that affects people at any age. Read more here.

Neuromodulation system developed to treat epilepsy

On May 17, 2023, Cadence Neuroscience announced the development of a new high-tech neuromodulation-based therapy method for the treatment of children and adults with focal drug-resistant epilepsy. Read more here.

2022

'Brain pacemaker 'for epilepsy comes to market

On September 23, 2022, the EASEE system entered the market, so named for the epicranial arrangement of electrodes for stimulating epilepsy. The device is developed by German company Precisis as a minimally invasive treatment for epilepsy, which can be implemented in the early stages as soon as numerous drugs do not help. The system has become available in European, and now the manufacturer wants permission to sell in the United States. Read more here.

Sales of a wearable device for the rapid detection of epilepsy attacks have begun

On September 26, 2022, the Australian company Seer Medical announced the launch of the epilepsy diagnostic monitoring technology Seer Home. The device will be sold in the United States after receiving appropriate approval from the authorities. Read more here.

The first on-market automatic device for injecting midazolam in the event of long-term seizures has been released

On August 30, 2022, Rafa Laboratories announced the release of the midazolam auto-injector for the treatment of epileptic status or prolonged seizures. The Israeli company created this device in conjunction with the Joint Executive Office of the US Department of Defense Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Protection Programs (JPEO-CBRND). Read more here.

Russia has created the world's most accurate method for searching the brain for signs of epilepsy

Researchers at the HSE Center for Bioelectric Interfaces at the end of April 2022 announced the creation of a new method for finding epileptogenic brain zones on an electroencephalogram. According to the developers, their algorithm is the most accurate in the world, it takes into account various errors and artifacts.

The created technology allows automatically to clarify the position of foci of epileptic activity according to data collected using magnetic (MEG) or electrical encephalography systems or electrodes implanted in the patient's brain before surgery.

Russia has created the most accurate method of searching the brain for signs of epilepsy

The algorithm analyzes multichannel data of the electrical activity of the brain for special events - interictal spikes, or peak-wave complexes. Further study of the amplitude distribution of the peak of the interictal spike along the scalp surface allows us to conclude on the location of the epileptogenic zone on the cerebral cortex and plan neurosurgical intervention. Mathematical analysis of signals allows you to optimize the search process, but for correct work, formalization of the criteria used by a person in solving this problem is required. The new method of signal analysis allows you to translate the verbal description of the spike form formulated by the doctor into a set of easily verifiable logical predicates, the developers explained.

In some ways, the work of our algorithm resembles the work of a person. Basically, our algorithm helps doctors test a set of conditions formulated in the usual language about the form of a spike. This biomimetic nature of our algorithm facilitates the interaction of the machine and the doctor and increases the level of confidence of the latter in the results of automatic analysis, - explained the head of the study, director of the Center for Bioelectric Interfaces Aleksei Osadchy.

As a rule, an attack is accompanied by a change of consciousness, sensory disorders, as well as focal motor disorders or convulsive seizures with involuntary contraction of the muscles of the whole body.^[2]

Causes of seizures

The causes of epileptic seizures often remain unexplained, so one can say that no one is immune to it. However, for 2019, it has been accurately established that factors such as brain injury, alcohol syndrome, brain tumors, strokes play a role in the occurrence of attacks.

Reflex epilepsy

In reflex epilepsy (a rather rare disease), seizures develop in response to an external stimulus, such as repeated sounds, flashes of light, video games, music, or even touching certain parts of the body.

Signs

Deja vu is a sign of possible epilepsy

Dazhevyu is a poorly understood phenomenon.

With "normal" déjà vu, there is a feeling that what is happening is familiar. Thoughts like "I knew he would say it now" are not a sign of pathology either. If deja vu occurs very often, lasts a long time and causes significant inconvenience and discomfort in a person, it can be pathological. 

If deja vu is accompanied by a feeling of unreality of what is happening, emotional changes, for example, a feeling of fear or physical symptoms, it can be a sign of epilepsy of the temporal lobe, in this case it is worth undergoing examination. 

But in itself, if it is not accompanied by thinking disorders or perception disorders, symptoms of depression, anxiety and panic disorders, it is not a reason to suspect mental disorders.

Notes