Absence Seizure Control by a Brain Computer Interface

The ultimate goal of epileptology is the complete abolishment of epileptic seizures. This might be achieved by a system that predicts seizure onset combined with a system that interferes with the process that leads to the onset of a seizure. Seizure prediction remains, as of yet, unresolved in absence-epilepsy, due to the sudden onset of seizures. We have developed a real-time absence seizure prediction algorithm, evaluated it and implemented it in an on-line, closed-loop brain stimulation system designed to prevent the spike-wave-discharges (SWDs), typical for absence epilepsy, in a genetic rat model. The algorithm corretly predicted 88% of the SWDs while the remaining were quickly detected. A high number of false-positive detections occurred mainly during light slow-wave-sleep. Inclusion of criteria to prevent false-positives greatly reduced the false alarm rate but decreased the sensitivity of the algoritm. Implementation of the latter version into a closed-loop brain-stimulation-system resulted in a 72% decrease in seizure activity. In contrast to long standing beliefs that SWDs are unpredictable, these results demonstrate that they can be predicted and that the development of closed-loop seizure prediction and prevention systems is a feasable step towards interventions to attain control and freedom from epileptic seizures.