A shirt and cap that can diagnose epilepsy quickly and easily has been approved for use by European health services, including the UK’s NHS.
Epileptic seizures are the result of excessive electrical discharges in the brain. The World Health Organization estimates that over 50 million people worldwide have the condition, including 6 million in Europe, making it one of the world’s most common serious neurological conditions.
“An EEG reading is at the heart of a reliable diagnosis,” says Françoise Thomas-Vialettes, president of French epilepsy society EFAPPE. But seizures rarely coincide with hospital appointments. “The diagnosis can take several years and is often imprecise.”
Seizures are so difficult to record that 30 per cent of people with epilepsy in Europe are misdiagnosed. In developing countries that lack medical equipment and healthcare the situation is even worse.
The outfit also records the wearer’s movements using an accelerometer, gyroscope and compass. This provides information about what activities trigger someone’s seizures.
Wearing the outfit at home lets patients and doctors gather precise readings over long periods of time. The outfit has recently successfully completed a six-month trial at the Brain and Spine Institute at the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris.