Ambulatory, Miniaturized, Automatic EEG Seizure Detector

This project is focused on developing an ambulatory, easy-to-attach EEG device with the capability of automatically detecting the presence of electrical seizure activity, including non-convulsive status epilepticus. A small portable EEG unit acquires the signal from the forehead and sends data to a rugged PDA for recording, displaying and analyzing/classifying EEG in real-time. The hardware of the EEG seizure detector is based on our highly portable intra-operative consciousness (depth-of-anesthesia) monitoring technology. The automatic seizure detection algorithms developed and tested in Phase I are comprised of a novel combination of two high-resolution and computationally efficient seizure identification/prediction techniques (developed under separate NIH grants). Phase I results show that these new algorithms are capable of real-time seizure detection with very good agreement with the EEG reading of the Cleveland Clinic neurologists. Phase II will evaluate the miniaturized and field-deployable version of the device through extensive clinical evaluations. At the Emergency Departments of the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals of Cleveland, ER patients who are deemed as needing emergency neurological/EEG examination will be tested by this portable device, in addition to a conventional EEG recording. This data will be used to validate the automatic seizure detector performance during actual emergencies.