Control of epileptic seizures in WAG/Rij rats by means of brain-computer interface

Abstract

The main issue of epileptology is the elimination of epileptic events. This can be achieved by a system that predicts the emergence of seizures in conjunction with a system that interferes with the process that leads to the onset of seizure. The prediction of seizures remains, for the present, unresolved in the absence epilepsy, due to the sudden onset of seizures. We developed an algorithm for predicting seizures in real time, evaluated it and implemented it into an online closed-loop brain stimulation system designed to prevent typical for the absence of epilepsy of spike waves (SWD) in the genetic rat model. The algorithm correctly predicts more than 85% of the seizures and the rest were successfully detected. Unlike the old beliefs that SWDs are unpredictable, current results show that they can be predicted and that the development of systems for predicting and preventing closed-loop capture is a feasible step on the way to intervention to achieve control and freedom from epileptic seizures.