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This Startup is solving epilepsy with biosensors and AI

epilert.io

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Re: This Startup is solving epilepsy with biosensors and AI

#11

Post by phoobahr »

Traubenfuchs wrote: post #7
the-dude wrote: post #2

Actual title is Epilert, the finest epilepsy detection device .

"solving epilepsy" is indeed in very bad taste.

Guh, this is truly terrible.

>CAN EPILERT PREDICT SEIZURES? >Epilert cannot predict or prevent seizures. >Our technology is designed to detect patterns that could be >associated only with motor seizures for now. However, we are >gathering EDA data to try building behavioral and emotional >profiles relative to non-motor seizures that will help >scientists better understand these types in the future.

>WHAT TYPES OF SEIZURES IS EPILERT DESIGNED TO DETECT? >Epilert Bracelet is made to detect motor seizures that can >be focal or generalized and could be tonic-clonic or from >another motor type.

So.... thanks for 'solving' the I-had-a-locomtor-seizure-and-I-guess-I've-fallen-and-can't-get-up-please help-me-problem. Thanks but not thanks; already have a toolbox of coping strategies for that. Call me back when you've got a 'solution' for: * please don't arrest me for public intoxication - I'll be better in 20minutes * here's a record of everything that happened 60minutes before and after an absence seizure (that this won't detect) 'cause I don't remember any of it * having a shitty day and I can't tell what you're feeling, what I'm feeling or how to feel about the meta. Please leave me alone but, well, don't fire me ok? * is this headache signalling a migraine or a seizure? They both suck but my best options are dramatically different

There are so many things that could be so much better with some unobtanium applied to this field... but detecting tonic clonic seizures is... underwhelming. This is no kind of solution but mightpossibly* be a tool in the toolbox; that's about it.

Re: This Startup is solving epilepsy with biosensors and AI

#12

Post by epilepsydude »

I have epilepsy and while this is a far cry from solving it, I love to see more products in the space.

A device that is closer to 'solving' (focal) epilepsy is Neuropace, which uses electrodes around the seizure focus to detect a developing seizure and promptly deliver electrical stimulation to counteract it and prevent its progression before it becomes noticeable. It's been quite successful so far, leading to substantial seizure reduction and boosts in cognition (which is often reduced by anti-epileptic drugs and/or regular seizures).

The research team behind Neuropace has also used data from the devices to build seizure risk forecasting models for individuals (https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/12/419376/seizure-risk-foreca...).

Given the device is so much less intrusive than Neuropace, it would be exciting to see Epilert successfully do the same (which seems to be one of their goals). With good forecasting, some patients could potentially prevent seizures through modulation of medication alone. Though I'm not really their 'target patient' (I have well controlled TLE), I'd happily wear the device when at home to contribute data to an effort to pull that off.

Re: This Startup is solving epilepsy with biosensors and AI

#13

Post by calvinmorrison »

arielserafini wrote: post #8
calvinmorrison wrote: post #5

without regards to the hubbub around "AI". > Epilert contains a monitoring system that enables epileptic patients, their caregivers and doctors to monitor patients’ vital signs, daily lifestyle, medication taking and seizures through dedicated mobile apps. I live with someone who has epilepsy. For adults, it's largely manageable with some medications. For my partner, this enables her to work and live mostly normally.…

if you don't mind me asking, does your partner take daily medication for it? I discovered I have epilepsy about 2 years ago, but my case seems to be very mild. I'm now on Tegretol and haven't had any seizures since. But, of course, I know the intensity and triggers vary wildly from person to person.

yes, she does

Re: This Startup is solving epilepsy with biosensors and AI

#14

Post by austinjp »

I have no experience of epilepsy, but I'd suggest (1) health conditions are not problems to be "solved", and (2) reducing complex systems to individual "soluble" components emphasises those components at the expense of the whole. In other words, someone living with epilepsy might have a whole ton of stuff going on in relation to the epilepsy.

Monitoring, alerting, etc etc are all (potentially) great, but they're at best necessary without being sufficient.

Not to rag on Epilert. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction. The language in the submitted title just seems inappropriate. (In case it changes, it was: "This Startup is solving epilepsy with biosensors and AI").

Re: This Startup is solving epilepsy with biosensors and AI

#15

Post by bordercases »

austinjp wrote: post #14

I have no experience of epilepsy, but I'd suggest (1) health conditions are not problems to be "solved", and (2) reducing complex systems to individual "soluble" components emphasises those components at the expense of the whole. In other words, someone living with epilepsy might have a whole ton of stuff going on in relation to the epilepsy. Monitoring, alerting, etc etc are all (potentially) great, but they're at b…

The solving condition for epilepsy is: minimize the frequency, intensity and duration of epilepsy episodes for an arbitrary representative organism over its remaining lifetime.

Some approaches partially solve the issue by satisficing on some subset of those objectives. And many health conditions can and have been considered "cured" if they've essentially satisfied all of those conditions together over a long enough period such that their values are all brought to zero.

I don't think the language of "solving" is inappropriate here even if in practice the best we can do is manage for the outcomes.

Re: This Startup is solving epilepsy with biosensors and AI

#16

Post by jvolkman »

This product says it detects (doesn't prevent) tonic-clonic seizures. Epilepsy covers such a wide array of conditions. Tonic-clonics are the type of seizure that people envision when they think about seizures (unconscious on the ground convulsing), but there are so many other types - absence seizures, for instance, result in a person appearing to just stare off into space. There are many products that aim to detect tonic-clonic seizures.

My almost 7 year old was diagnosed with a form of epilepsy at age 3.5. It's luckily mostly controlled at the moment with a 3:1 keto diet and a cocktail of drugs, but it's been a long few years. We've dealt with many, many tonic-clonics over those years, as well as other types. By far the most common for us (dozens or more per day at times) has been myoclonic seizures, resulting in a sudden jerk of some muscle. This might result suddenly dropping whatever you're grasping in your hand, or suddenly ending up with a wet shirt after the liquid you just drank falls back out of your mouth. But the worst by far have been the atonic seizures - complete loss of muscle tone and consciousness for a brief moment resulting in a standing person falling face-first in to the pavement with no protective reflexes. It's hard to describe the feeling of helplessness as a parent when this happens to your child.

Anyway, mostly venting. It's nice to see any acknowledgment of epilepsy in more general outlets. Not sure I'd consider this solving epilepsy, though.

Re: This Startup is solving epilepsy with biosensors and AI

#17

Post by derefr »

austinjp wrote: post #14

I have no experience of epilepsy, but I'd suggest (1) health conditions are not problems to be "solved", and (2) reducing complex systems to individual "soluble" components emphasises those components at the expense of the whole. In other words, someone living with epilepsy might have a whole ton of stuff going on in relation to the epilepsy. Monitoring, alerting, etc etc are all (potentially) great, but they're at b…

> health conditions are not problems to be "solved",

What does this mean? Of course they are.

Leprosy was a “health condition” — something millions of people lived with and managed — until the invention of effective antibiotics. Then it was suddenly just another treatable disease.

Cataracts were another “health condition” to be managed — and then Intraocular Lens (IOL) implants were developed.

Lactose intolerance is being solved right now with gene therapy. (Pretty easily, apparently.)

I agree with you about the article’s title — that a management therapy is not the same thing as a solution, and that it’s editorial malfeasance for the article here to claim that its management-therapy tooling is part of a solution.

But that doesn’t translate to this broader claim you’re making here, of certain conditions having some inherent property of insolubility, such that even considering finding permanent treatments or prophylactics for them would be wrong-headed somehow.

“Health conditions” are just problems that don’t have any known approaches or promising avenues of research for “solving” them yet.

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