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Reducing the number of fatal nocturnal deaths
The researchers involved believe that this bracelet can reduce the worldwide number of unplanned deaths at night in epileptic patients. They published this week the results of a prospective trial in the scientific journal Neurology
SUDEP
. SUDEP, sudden death and epileptic, is a major cause of death in epileptic patients. People with intellectual disabilities and severe epilepsy who are resistant to treatment may even risk that 20% of their lives die of epilepsy. Although there are different techniques for monitoring patients at night, many attacks are still overlooked.
Heart rate and jerky movements
The Consortium researchers therefore developed a bracelet recognizing two essential characteristics of serious attacks: an abnormally fast heartbeat and rhythmic jerks. In such cases, the bracelet sends a wireless alarm to carers or nurses.
Nightwatch
The research team tested the bracelet, called Nightwatch, in 28 patients with mental disability epilepsy on an average of 65 nights per patient. The bracelet was limited to an alarm in case of serious attack. The patients were also filmed for possible false alarms or alarms that would have escaped Nightwatch. This comparison shows that the bracelet has detected 85% of all serious attacks and 96% of the most serious (tonic-clonic crises), which is a particularly high score.
Bed Sensor
By comparison, the current detection standard, a bed sensor that responds to vibrations due to rhythmic shock, was tested simultaneously. This only reported 21% of serious attacks. On average, the bed sensor was unnecessarily quiet every four nights per patient. The Nightwatch, on the other hand, missed a serious attack per patient on average once every 25 nights. In addition, the patients did not feel much discomfort at the wristband and the guards were also positive about the use of the wristband.
Saving Lives
These results show that the bracelet works well, explains the neurologist and head of research, prof. Johan Arends. Nightwatch can now be used on a large scale by adults, both in institutions and at home. Arends expects to reduce by two thirds the number of SIDS cases, although this also depends on the speed and effectiveness of health care providers or informal carers responding to warnings. Applied on a global scale, it can save thousands of lives.
Consortium
The Nightwatch was developed by a consortium consisting of the following members: Kempenhaeghe Epilepsy Center, Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands Foundation for Epilepsy Institutions ( BREAST), UMC Utrecht, the Epilepsy Fund, patient representatives and LivAssured. This company was founded to put the Nightwatch on the market and participates in R & D since 2014.
Twenty years of development
The creation of the Nightwatch was launched by Kempenhaeghe and the University of Technology 39; Eindhoven. The development took about twenty years. The principle is based on an idea of Johan Arends and some of his colleagues.
Enhance
While Nightwatch still generates separate alarms based on both sensors (heart rate sensor and motion sensor), the Tele-epilepsy consortium is already studying the two can work together intelligently to obtain even better reports. The consortium is also working on the improvement of sound and video based alarm systems, which can be combined with alarm systems via the wristband in the future. After a while, the intention is to interpret the patient-specific signals.
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