February 5, 2018

UH Engineer Locates Brain’s Seizure Onset Zone in Record Time: Discovery Breakthrough for Epilepsy Patients

A University of Houston biomedical engineer is reporting a dramatic decrease in the time it takes to detect the seizure onset zone (SOZ), the actual part of the brain that causes seizures, in patients with epilepsy.

Using oscillating brain waves, rather than observing seizures as they happen, assistant professor Nuri Ince locates the seizure onset zone in one hour. Current treatment protocols for detecting the zone require prolonged monitoring in the hospital for up to 10 days. Ince’s new method to locate the seizure onset zone, reported in Brain, A Journal of Neurology, could save patients weeks of hospitalization, reduce complications and costs associated with what has traditionally been an arduous, and often painful, procedure.

Ince developed a pipeline of machine learning algorithms to interpret the brain waves, and after two years his algorithm identified the pattern.

“Can you imagine monitoring a patient for just one hour, as compared to before when it takes days or weeks?” Ince said, still marveling at the saving of both time and money this translational project will bring to the patient and their families.