Epileptic Seizure Prediction: An overview

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder marked by sudden recurrent episodes of sensory disturbance, loss of consciousness, or convulsions, associated with abnormal electrical activity in the brain. The sudden and seemingly unpredictable nature of seizures is one of the most compromising aspects of the disease epilepsy. Most epilepsy patients only spend a marginal part of their time actually having a seizure and show no clinical signs of their disease during the time between seizures, the so-called inter-ictal interval. But the constant fear of the next seizure and the feeling of helplessness associated with it often have a strong impact on the everyday life of a patient (Fisher et al. 2000). A method capable of reliably predicting the occurrence of seizures could significantly improve the quality of life for these patients and open new therapeutic possibilities. Apart from simple warning devices, fully automated closed-loop seizure prevention systems are conceivable. Treatment concepts could move from preventive strategies towards on demand therapy which resets brain dynamics and minimize the risk during epilepsy.