Epileptic seizures can severely hinder a person’s life. They can make it tough to work, study, or even drive. While treatments like medication and surgery can help some people, not all patients respond to these options.
That’s where exciting new research comes in. A team from RWJBarnabas Health and Rutgers Health recently secured a $2.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health. Their goal? To develop advanced neurostimulation devices that could potentially cut down or eliminate seizures for people suffering from severe epilepsy.
Dr. Hai Sun, a key figure in this research, emphasizes the importance of these new devices. He mentions that current solutions only help a small percentage of patients achieve total seizure freedom. “Patients suffering from seizures often feel they are losing control of their lives,” he noted. For many, being free of seizures means being able to drive, work, or live independently.
The team aims to create devices that could predict seizures and stimulate broader areas of the brain. Right now, the existing responsive neurostimulation (RNS) devices activate far more often than necessary, causing over 1,000 stimulations each day, while patients might experience only about eight seizures a month. A smarter design could mean fewer stimulations and better management of seizures.
The researchers will first test these new strategies on patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, but their hope is that many people with different types of epilepsy can benefit. Dr. Sun assures us that patient safety is a top priority. “The goal is to improve lives without causing side effects,” he adds.
Statistically, about 30% of people with epilepsy do not respond to conventional treatments. This highlights the urgent need for better solutions. By focusing on innovative treatments like these new devices, researchers are working toward bridging that significant treatment gap.
As we look forward to the outcomes of this promising research, the potential for change is both exciting and hopeful. For patients who have struggled for so long, these advancements could be life-altering.
For more details, you can check the original report from RWJBarnabas Health here.
