Finding epilepsy hotspots before surgery: A faster, non-invasive approach

Neurosurgery for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy requires locating the precise brain areas that are generating the seizures. Typically, patients undergo seven to 10 days of invasive intracranial EEG monitoring, with electrodes surgically implanted inside the brain through one or more skull openings to capture seizure activity as it happens. Eleonora Tamilia, Ph.D., directs the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit Signal and Data Science Program within the Epilepsy Center at Boston Children’s Hospital. Her team has piloted a much briefer method for mapping seizure zones. Not only is it noninvasive, but can it provide information a traditional EEG reading cannot. It combines standard Read More