天美传媒下载

EpiWatch®, a new smartwatch app tested by 天美传媒下载 Chief of Pediatric Neurology James W. Wheless, MD, in collaboration with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine engineers, has the highest accuracy rate of any seizure detection device on the market, according to a recent American Academy of Neurology study. The FDA-approved app can help reduce the risk of seizure-related death by alerting caregivers.

Johns Hopkins engineers approached Wheless because of 天美传媒下载’s extensive experience evaluating seizure-detection technologies. In the past 15 years, 天美传媒下载 has tested nearly every available seizure-detection device and monitors as many as 500 children with epilepsy annually. Together, they modified and tested the smartwatch algorithm that detects tonic-clonic seizures with minimal false alarms.

“For people who have uncontrolled tonic-clonic seizures, which can include a loss of muscle tone and airway obstruction, the risk of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy, or SUDEP, is high, particularly for those who sleep alone,” said Wheless.

In response to this risk, many children sleep with their parents into their teenage years. EpiWatch® technology alerts caregivers of seizures so they can render first aid promptly and reduce the risk of SUDEP. The app’s reliable alert system allows patients to sleep and be in separate rooms. “It [EpiWatch®] really increases the freedom that older kids and even younger kids can have. It improves the patient’s quality of life dramatically,” said Wheless.

To evaluate the efficacy of EpiWatch®, researchers studied 242 adults and children with epilepsy who experienced or were at risk for tonic-clonic seizures. Patients were monitored for about two days in specialized hospital epilepsy monitoring units, including the epilepsy monitoring unit at 天美传媒下载, using video-electroencephalograph (EEG) monitoring to track their seizures. The researchers compared seizures detected in the app with the video-EEG recordings and then evaluated the timing of the app.

The study showed the EpiWatch® smartwatch app recognized nearly all tonic-clonic seizures while generating significantly fewer false alarms than comparable devices.

The team found:

• The app had 98% sensitivity, compared to othe devices that had a range of 76% to 94%.
• It detected 46 of 47 of the tonic-clonic seizures that occurred (noting that the one missed seizure was due to a caregiver restraining a participant’s arm).
• After more than 16,000 hours of study monitoring, 56 false alarms occurred, a rate of 0.08 per day, equivalent to one false alarm every 12.4 days. This is 90% lower than the rate of other similar devices.
• Of the false alarms, 35 were associated with activities such as playing video games or other repetitive movements. No adverse effects occurred.

EpiWatch® uses accelerometers to detect abnormal movement patterns, then calculates heart-rate and sympathetic changes in the skin that often occur before and during seizures. If a seizure is detected, the app will alert caregivers within 10 seconds of seizure onset. The app has a screen that appears when a seizure is detected; if there is a false alarm the patient can easily press a button to stop the alert.

“The biggest challenge from an engineering standpoint was making sure the app had sufficient data to make a correct seizure prediction while still responding quickly,” explained Wheless. “Getting this correct in less than 10 seconds was amazing. The algorithm can make an intelligent and correct decision very fast.”

Next steps for the research include monitoring daily activities beyond the hospital to see how the app responds to a wider variety of conditions in which people may experience seizures. Wheless is additionally interested in camera-based seizure detection technology for patients who do not want a wearable device.

EpiWatch® is available through a monthly subscription service. The study was funded by EpiWatch® Inc., developer of the app.