Three million people in the U.S. live with epilepsy. Yes, 3 million. With as many as 1 in 3 experiencing ongoing seizures and many more battling treatment side effects and lifestyle issues, it’s important to stay connected with new developments. Patients need to know.

The American Epilepsy Society is the established organization for epilepsy professionals, promoting research and education. The AES hosts the largest U.S. conference for those professionals, focusing on trends, products, therapies, and published studies in epilepsy treatment and research. So with the event just occurring in San Antonio, what’s happening? The expansive collection of epilepsy reports and lectures were the focus and purposely medical in nature, but still, trends are evident.

What’s New? Going Interactive, Mobile, and 24/7

Not too long ago, patients would see their doctor every once in while, try oh-so-hard to remember their seizure activity, and perhaps get a revised prescription. Treatment, monitoring, and discussion were only for the doctor’s office. Now, new technologies are enabling interactive, mobile, 24/7 patient tracking and care. This empowers patients and caregivers to play larger roles in seizure monitoring and assessment, and provides neurologists with more extensive and hopefully more accurate information to work with.

For example, online seizure diaries MyEpilepsyDiary and SeizureTracker now provide a host of features for seizure tracking, medication notices, and patient diaries. Just had a seizure? Write down the time of day, activities, diet, meds, and then see if there’s a trend over time. Want to enter it on your iPhone? There’s an app for that. New developments at AES included MySeizureDiary’s optional doctor access to portions of your diary for better reporting and SeizureTracker’s video recording feature for their iPhone app that should help doctors assess seizure types. Other companies are exploring interactive, automated pill boxes that electronically track when you take your meds.

Technology is also starting to enable some limited forms of electronic seizure detection and notification outside of the hospital. These are primarily for tonic clonics (gran mals). Emfit offers a mattress pad movement monitor that detects faster and longer than normal physical movements in bed, which in turn triggers an audio alarm. This next year SmartWatch launches a watch-like device that detects abnormal physical movements. The watch then uses bluetooth to signal the patient’s smartphone that unusual motions are underway, and the phone automatically text messages or emails a caregiver’s phone. It’s early, and these products are meant only for tonic clonic (gran mal) seizures vs. simple or complex partials. Still, the concept of notification could help restore some slight peace of mind for patients and caregivers.

Finally, several companies showed portable and/or wireless EEGs, confirming the mobile trend. An EEG is the doctor’s main electronic tool for measuring and recording electrical activity of the brain’s neurons. Portable EEG’s for use in hospitals and potentially homes, while still administered by doctors, inspire some debate as to whether they might produce more frequent or more accurate seizure recordings.

What’s Ongoing? Multiple Treatment Options, But Few Breakthroughs

Several new medications remain in late-stage clinical trials, and the results of studies were announced at AES. Still, it appears that breakthrough primary meds, such as Keppra was 10 years ago, remain several years away. The news for patients remains the newer adjunctive meds, such as Vimpat (Lacosamide) and Sabril (Vigabatrin). These are meant as add-on medications for patients already on 1-2 meds and still experiencing seizures. More serious implanted medical devices remain under development, with FDA approval playing a large role right now. In this space, Cyberonics is launching a new version of the Vagus Nerve Stimulator (VNS) in 2011 and developing complimentary products.

The Ketogenic and Atkins diets are still getting some attention, but the jury remains out on what roles blood sugar, ketones, and GABA’s are playing. NeuroVista presented research updates on their implantable device, which has the lofty goal of providing an early warning system for pending seizures. EEG technology and visual mapping both continue to progress, with the hope that more accurate analysis improves the surgery candidate identification and surgery outcomes. Finally, non-profits Epilepsy Therapy Project, Epilepsy Foundation, and CURE announced the recipients of new research grants.

Remember, knowledge is power.

D. Andrew Neff, AES Conference Attendee and Epilepsy Foundation Board Member
Last Reviewed: 1/15/11