Children with epilepsy could benefit from pioneering Edinburgh research that aims to make it quicker and easier to diagnose the condition.
A £2 million project is developing a simple, portable brain-monitoring tool to detect epilepsy in children – including severe forms such as infantile spasms – much earlier.
Children with suspected epilepsy – which affects more than 50 million people globally – currently often face lengthy waits and multiple hospital stays for specialist tests.
The new technology could allow clinicians to monitor brain activity in community clinics or patients’ homes, researchers say.
Faster diagnosis
Working closely with families and clinicians, the team is developing technology that uses brainwave readings and AI to detect seizures earlier than current diagnostic practice and track responses to treatment.
This could reduce stress for families, speed up access to treatment, and ensure more equitable care for children across Scotland and the rest of the UK, the team says.
Our project addresses a major healthcare need raised by families and patient organisations: the need for a fair and equitable solution for personalised early diagnosis, monitoring and prediction of response to treatment in childhood epilepsies. I really look forward to co-developing this digital solution with the community, for the community.
Dr Javier Escudero
School of Engineering
Collaborative research
The work, which involves researchers from the School of Engineering, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine and Usher Institute, is being conducted in partnership with NHS Lothian.
It also involves a number of charities including the UK Infantile Spasms Trust, Epilepsy Scotland and the Epilepsy Research Institute UK.
Edinburgh Innovations, the University’s commercialisation service, will support development of the technology. The research received initial commercialisation funding from the Bayes Centre and EPSRC’s Harmonised Impact Acceleration Account.
Improved outcomes
The work is one of six new projects funded by the UKRI Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).
The projects aim to tackle a range of conditions including asthma, dementia, chemotherapy-related nerve damage and musculoskeletal disorders.
Each project has the shared goal of supporting earlier diagnosis, easing pressure on hospitals and improving outcomes for patients.
Diagnosing health conditions early and in a way that works for people’s everyday lives is vital. This project will bring engineering and health expertise together with the experiences of patients and communities to develop practical, real-world tools that support the NHS Long Term Plan. By enabling care closer to home as well as earlier intervention, they will help shift the system from treatment to prevention, improve outcomes, tackle health inequalities, and ease pressure on hospitals.
