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A new high-tech bracelet, developed by Dutch scientists, detects 85% of severe nocturnal epileptic seizures. This is a much better score than any other technology currently available. The researchers involved believe that this bracelet, called Nightwatch, can reduce the number of unplanned deaths worldwide in epileptic patients during the night. They published the results of a prospective trial in the scientific journal Neurology.
Unexpected sudden death in epilepsy is a major cause of death in patients with epilepsy. People with intellectual disabilities and severe epilepsy resistant to treatment may even run a risk of death from epilepsy by 20% during their lifetime Although there are several techniques to monitor patients at night, many attacks are always missed.
The consortium researchers have therefore developed a bracelet recognizing two essential characteristics of serious attacks: an abnormally fast heart rate and rhythmic movements. In this case, the bracelet will send a wireless alert to caregivers or nurses.
The research team prospectively tested the bracelet, called Nightwatch, in 28 epilepsy patients with intellectual disabilities on an average of 65 nights per patient. The bracelet was limited to an alarm in case of serious crisis. The patients were also filmed to check for any false alarms or attacks that Nightwatch might have missed. This comparison shows that the bracelet has detected 85% of all serious attacks and 96% of the most serious (tonic-clonic crises), which represents a particularly high score.
For comparison purposes, the current detection standard, a bed sensor that responds to vibration due to rhythmic shaking, has been tested simultaneously. This only reported 21% of serious attacks. On average, the bed sensor remained unduly quiet once every 4 nights per patient. The Nightwatch, on the other hand, missed only one serious attack per patient once every 25 nights on average. In addition, the patients did not feel much discomfort with the bracelet and the caregiver was also optimistic about the use of the bracelet.
The results show that the bracelet works well, says Professor Johan Arends, neurologist and leader of the research. Nightwatch can now be widely used by adults, both in institutions and at home. Arends expects this to reduce the number of CPUE-SUDE cases by two-thirds, although this also depends on how quickly and efficiently caregivers or informal carers respond to alerts . Applied globally, it can save thousands of lives.
Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/0G_BQK4LK88
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Material provided by Eindhoven University of Technology. Note: Content can be changed for style and length.
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