Australian scientists have developed a new technology that could warn epileptics of a seizure about to happen.
The latest technology involves surgically-placed electrodes in the brain feeding information to a handheld unit carried by the patient that will alert them to the threat of a seizure, ABC reported today.
The development could one day transform the lives of about 60 million people who have epilepsy worldwide, it said, adding that the test has already been conducted on 15 people.
The head of neurology at St Vincent's Hospital, Prof Mark Cook, and his research team, said the device has the potential to dramatically improve the lives of the 60 million people around the world living with epilepsy.
"The fact that seizures are relatively brief but cause a lot of disruption means that people can't plan their lives, often it interferes with their abilities to drive and work," Prof Cook said.
"If you could predict when seizures were going to happen, it would improve people's independence a great deal."
"This device is inserted in between, or electrodes are inserted in between the skull and the brain to continuously record the electrical activity of the brain," Cook said.
The technology has been developed jointly by University of Melbourne and St Vincent's Hospital and has been funded by US company NeuroVista.
