Written by: Ilse Strauss
Article source: www.bridgesforpeace.com
Israeli researchers are offering a ray of hope to the more than 65 million people around the world suffering from epilepsy, the highly pervasive neural disease characterized by recurring seizures.
Epiness, a first-of-its-kind artificial intelligence wearable device, is the brainchild of Dr. Oren Shriki and his team at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev’s Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences. It employs EEG technology to detect the specific brain activity that occurs before a seizure strikes and sends an advanced warning of an impending episode—up to an hour before its onset.
While various medications are available to help manage the disease, up to 30% of epilepsy patients do not respond to anti-epileptic drugs, leaving millions without remedy or recourse. Moreover, seizures often strike with little or no warning, dooming patients to a life of uncertainty and fear of the next unexpected episode.
The Epiness advanced prediction device seeks to remedy that, offering epilepsy patients greater peace of mind, an enhanced quality of life and the opportunity to prepare for the seizure, thus minimizing injuries.
“Epileptic seizures expose epilepsy patients to various preventable hazards, including falls, burns and other injuries,” Shriki explained.
“Unfortunately, currently there are no seizure-predicting devices that can alert patients and allow them to prepare for upcoming seizures. We are therefore very excited that the machine-learning algorithms that we developed enable accurate prediction of impending seizures up to one hour prior to their occurrence,” Shriki continued.
Shriki is currently working with NeuroHelp, a high-tech startup company, to further develop and commercialize the Epiness prototype. Clinical trials are set to start later this year.
If all goes according to plan, epilepsy may soon be added to the long list of diseases, scourges and plagues for which Israel offers a breakthrough.
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Date published: 20/10/2020
Feature image: unsplash.com
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