June 8, 2018
Epileptic seizures strike with little warning and nearly one third of people living with epilepsy are resistant to treatment that controls these attacks. More than 65 million people worldwide are living with epilepsy. Now researchers at the University of Sydney have used advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning to develop a generalised method to predict when seizures will strike that will not require surgical implants.
In a paper published this month in Neural Networks, Dr. Kavehei and his team have proposed a generalized, patient-specific, seizure-prediction method that can alert epilepsy sufferers within 30 minutes of the likelihood of a seizure. Dr. Kavehei said there had been remarkable advances in artificial intelligence as well as micro- and nano-electronics that have allowed the development of such systems. “Just four years ago, you couldn’t process sophisticated AI through small electronic chips. Now it is completely accessible. In five years, the possibilities will be enormous,” Dr. Kavehei said.