Previously, scientists developed systems to prevent attacks that predicted them several times in advance.
seconds or at best minutes. Our development is the first that can predict an attack several days before its onset. This will allow people with disorders to plan their lives without fear.Vikram Rao, MD, neurologist at the UCSF Epilepsy Center, part of UCSF Helen
For decades, researchers have studiedepilepsy: worked to build patterns of electrical activity in the brain that signal an oncoming seizure, but this was not very effective. In part, according to the study authors, this is due to the fact that technology has limited the scope of recording brain activity from several days to weeks at most in an artificial hospital setting.
At the UCSF Epilepsy Center, a largetertiary center in the western United States, Rao first decided to test a brain stimulation implant that could quickly stop seizures at the first sign. This device, the NeuroPace RNS System, also allowed Rao's team to study the brain activity that occurs before and during an attack. Scientists have been documenting this activity for several years.
After that, they analyzed the collected dataand discovered that there is a pattern to epileptic seizures. The attacks are divided into weekly and monthly cycles of “brain irritability”, which can predict high or low likelihood of a seizure.
The researchers decided to test their theory on 157patients with epilepsy. As a result, scientists were able to identify periods in patients when the likelihood of a seizure was increased 10 times: for some volunteers, this risk was predicted several days in advance. Researchers note that an increased risk of an attack does not mean that one is guaranteed to occur, but more like weather forecasts, which become more accurate every year. Scientists continue to plan to improve their system and increase its accuracy.
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