Spotlight

SeizeIT: Improved seizure detection for optimised treatment

SeizeIT is a consortium of EIT Health partners committed to improving the care and treatment of people with epilepsy, through collaboration and innovation. In partnership with EIT Health, SeizeIT has created a discreet wearable device that enables comfortable, unobtrusive seizure monitoring outside the hospital environment.

Accurate monitoring of seizures is essential in understanding seizure frequency, and in turn, treatment response, enabling clinicians to prescribe treatments that are specifically tailored to the individual.[1]

With SeizeIT, we would be able to take an informed decision, optimise the patient treatment, and get the right treatment for the right patient at the right time.

Gergely Vertes, Solution Accelerator, UCB

Unpredictable seizures

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases globally, affecting 50 million people worldwide.[2] It represents a group of conditions characterised by recurrent and unpredictable seizures that start in the brain.[3,4] Seizures are associated with an increased risk of injury, hospitalisation and death, and can also lead to anxiety and depression.[4] An increasing number of antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) have become available to treat epilepsy.[5] However, inaccurate seizure reporting makes it difficult to diagnose the condition and therefore optimising treatment for epilepsy remains a challenge.[1]

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Monitoring seizures: beyond self-reporting

Self-reporting is the current standard approach for monitoring seizures.[6] However, it can be difficult for patients to detect seizures themselves for a number of reasons including that they may occur during sleep. As a result, patients are only reporting around half of seizures.[6] In collaboration with epilepsy patients, SeizeIT have co-created a device that can provide accurate reporting of seizures on a 24/7 basis in a real-world setting. The comfortable, wearable device gives healthcare professionals unique insights into how patients are responding to treatments, enabling them to optimise treatment for the patient.

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Collaborating to turn ideas into reality

Improved seizure detection can facilitate better diagnosis and provide patients with more effective, tailored treatment. But the increased accuracy of seizure monitoring achieved with SeizeIT extends past the patient, equipping researchers with valuable data to develop and test new AEDs.  “SeizeIT is a great example of a project team that's been able to draw on the strength of EIT Health's network. By bringing these different people together, we are breaking down barriers to health innovation that exists across the continent” Katharina Ladewig, Managing Director, EIT Health Germany

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With accurate diagnosis and effective treatment an estimated 70% of people with epilepsy could live seizure free.[2]

SeizeIT is a discreet wearable device providing a precise quantitative analysis of seizure activity.

“EIT health has helped us significantly in providing a network and access to clinical centres” Charl van Zyl, Head of Neurology Solutions, UCB

SeizeIT Spotlight PDF

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  1. Elger CE, Hoppe C. Diagnostic challenges in epilepsy: seizure under-reporting and seizure detection. Lancet Neurol 2018; 17(3): 279–288.

  2. WHO. Epilepsy: key facts. Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/epilepsy [Accessed Feb 2020].

  3. Epilepsy Society. What is epilepsy? Available from: https://www.epilepsysociety.org.uk/what-epilepsy#.XjgNBJP7Q2x [Accessed Feb 2020].

  4. Kerr MP. The impact of epilepsy on patients’ lives. Acta Neurol Scand Suppl 2012; 125 (S194): 1–9.

  5. Baftiu A, Landmark CJ, Nikaj V et al. Availability of antiepileptic drugs across Europe. Epilepsia 2015; 56 (12): e191–e197.

  6. Hoppe C, Poepel A, Elger CE. Epilepsy: Accuracy of patient seizure counts. Arch Neurol 2007; 64 (11): 1595–1599.