WP4 | Epilepsy

Epilepsy is the occurrence of recurrent, unprovoked seizures. It is one of the most common neurological disorders, affecting approximately 1 in 150 people worldwide. Seizures are debilitating - greatly affecting a person’s freedom to work and travel from home, and anti-epileptic drugs fail to sufficiently decrease seizure occurrence in 30% of patients. Recent evidence suggests that the cerebellum of the brain may be the location to interrupt a seizure by applying neurostimulation right before a seizure occurs. NeuroTech-NL scientists at Erasmus University Medical Centre and Delft University of Technology have already designed the first prototype of a closed-loop” neurofeedback system: using the recording of neural activity of the brain for automatic analysis to provide instantaneous corrective stimulation of the cerebellum. Clinical trials in humans are now underway. To fully realize the potential of this innovation, we are investigating the triggers of the seizures themselves, the user experience, as well as the ethical considerations of neurofeedback stimulation.

 

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