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Epileptic seizures are conveniently hard to predict for the doctors. That’s because their nature and frequency differ from one epileptic patient to the next. A new computer program, however, is now able to predict epileptic seizues with up to 70% accuracy by drawing on the individual data of each patient.

The program makes use of electroencephalography (EEG) to gather valuable readings from the patient’s body. These readings are then analyzed to see when the onset of the next seizure is probable. So far, the computer program has been able to register a 70% accuracy, which is quite extraordinary.

The program has been developed by Shouyi Wang, an assitant professor at the University of Texas Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering. She collaborated with the University of Washington and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School for her research.

Wang comments on the lack of adequately personalized seizure prediction for epileptic patients, “We can tell you the likelihood of suffering a heart attack if you’re over a certain age, of a certain weight and if you smoke. But we have only started to personalize that data for individuals who are all different.”

She then goes on to reveal how her new program works wonders, “The challenge with seizure prediction has been that every epileptic is different. Some patients suffer several seizures a day. Others will go several years without experiencing a seizure. But if we use the EEG readings to build a personalized data profile, we’re better able to understand what’s happening to that person.”

Source: UTA

Courtesy: Newsmaxhealth

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