New App can Help Detect Epileptic Seizures

A new study to be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s (AAN’s) 66th annual meeting in Philadelphia reveals that a specially designed smartphone app can help in the detection of epileptic seizures.

Researchers led by Dr Victor Patterson, a neurologist from Belfast, questioned around 67 epilepsy patients about their seizures and selected the most helpful answers that could help predict a seizure, using them to develop the software.

Fits | Epilepsy | Convulsions - Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment FAQs
Fits or convulsions or Epilepsy is characterized by recurrent, involuntary seizures and is described as a chronic neurological disorder

On testing the effect of the app on 162 epilepsy patients in India and Nepal, the researchers found that the app’s predictions agreed with that of doctors’ diagnosis in 96 percent of the cases.

“It can often be difficult to determine whether someone is having an epileptic seizure. This app will help health professionals evaluate and make the diagnosis, especially when doctors are not available”, Dr Patterson said.

Convulsions / Seizures / Fits - Symptom Evaluation
Seizure or a convulsion is a result of abnormal electrical activity in the brain. If there are two or more unprovoked seizures at an interval of at least 24 hours, it is referred to as epilepsy.

Source-Medindia

Neurocysticercosis / Cysticercosis of Brain / Pork Tapeworm - Causes Symptoms Diagnosis Treatment FAQs
Neurocysticercosis or Cysticercosis of brain is the most common cause of epilepsy and the most common parasitic infection of the brain. Neurocysticercosis is more common in the developing countries.