People with epilepsy, especially those who don’t respond to anti-seizure medication, may one day be helped with a kind of brain pacemaker.

Researchers have shown that it is possible to detect the start of an epileptic seizure and to then automatically apply high-frequency electrical stimulation (HFES) to the brain to stop the seizure progressing, according to a report in the Annals of Neurology.

Dr. Ivan Osorio from University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, told Reuters Health that “this is a promising, cost-effective therapeutic option” for people with epilepsy who aren’t helped by anticonvulsants.

Osorio and his colleagues investigated the safety and efficacy of automated HFES in response to seizure detection in eight patients with epilepsy. The experimental bedside set-up currently uses a couple of computers, commercial EEG equipment, and a stimulator attached to brain electrodes.

Overall, five of the subjects responded to the therapy, and the frequency of their seizures was reduced by about 80 percent.

Consciousness and behavior remained unchanged in all patients during delivery of a total of 1491 HFES events - except for one patient who experienced transient unawareness - the team reports.

The process “offers the hope of not only blocking seizures even before patients become aware of their onset, but also of short-term warning,” Osorio concluded.

SOURCE: Annals of Neurology, February 2005.