Many people with epilepsy live with the constant risk of having a seizure. At any moment a seizure might force them to the ground or cause them to zone out, possibly behind a desk or a steering wheel. They go to bed each night knowing there’s a risk, albeit a small one, that they won’t wake up in the morning. For people whose seizures are not controlled by drug therapies – approximately one million of the three million people in the US with epilepsy (more than 60 million people worldwide), every day is a series of risk-benefit analyses that would be unthinkable to most of us. Even though I have been seizure-free for a year, should I drive? Will I have a seizure while giving the baby a bath? Can I scuba dive? Today’s top blog post on the Epilepsy Therapy Project (www.epilepsy.com
Device Start-Ups Inch Closer To Elusive Epilepsy Treatment
Despite the availability of more than 20 anti-epilepsy drugs, surgery, and a neurostimulation therapy that’s been available for 15 years, a large proportion of the three million patients in the US with epilepsy continue to have seizures. Emerging device companies aim to provide a solution for them.