Tech & Innovation in Healthcare

Question: I have several patients who suffer from epilepsy that is well controlled with medication, but some of the patients do experience seizures on occasion. Those patients have inquired about technology that could help detect their seizures, so they can respond appropriately while at work or school.

Is there technology that could help our patients?

Michigan Subscriber

Answer: Patients who have epilepsy can experience seizures at any time of day and the seizure may occur without physical manifestations. Wearable technology can help patients manage their epilepsy while they’re living their lives.

For example, a smartwatch continuously and objectively monitors different physical factors, such as heart rate and pulse oximetry, which can improve the chances of precise seizure detection. The patient’s healthcare provider can establish thresholds for the different measurements, and if the values exceed the parameters, then the watch can alert the wearer to a potential seizure.

The real-time alerts can also be transmitted to the patient’s healthcare providers to ensure the patient receives necessary intervention (or immediate care in the event of a severe seizure).

Of course, providers and patients should be aware of the drawbacks of the technology before investing in the solution. The tech isn’t perfect and can report false positives or false negatives, which means the device may incorrectly detect a seizure leading to unnecessary treatment or it may miss detecting a seizure in time.

Accessibility is also a large factor in deciding whether to deploy the technology. Certain patients may not have the money to cover the cost of the device, understand how to use the technology once they get home, or the area in which they live may not have the required infrastructure to ensure reliable data transmission back to the provider.