Striving for faster seizure diagnosis
Posted by
03-Oct-2018
At UCB we believe our epilepsy knowledge and leadership places us in an ideal position to think, holistically, about how digital healthcare technology can unlock additional value for patients and how it can transform how care will be delivered in the future.
Reflecting our commitment to exploring how new technologies could support and improve patient experiences, we have recently invested in Ceribell, an exciting Silicon Valley based healthcare startup company founded out of Stanford University.
Although electroencephalogram (EEG) systems have been available for many years to support epilepsy diagnosis and non-convulsive seizure detection, these systems have traditionally been hospital based and required dedicated and specially trained personnel and expensive equipment. Considering the time needed to access and set up the equipment, and to interpret the results, patients can spend between 22 and 48 hours undergoing diagnosis. As a result, demand for EEG diagnosis tends to massively exceed the available supply. This can create significant waiting periods during which time sub-clinical seizures may remain undetected and untreated. These waiting periods can significantly impact the lives of patients and present increased morbidity and mortality risks.
Ceribell have developed a novel, innovative and disruptive clinical quality portable EEG system which allows for instant epilepsy diagnosis and non-convulsive seizure detection in a hospital setting. The new system consists of a disposable headband requiring a 3-minute setup, a portable pocket size EEG recording device and proprietary method of sonification of seizure EEG recordings which allows for seizure detection with an impressive success rate.
We are optimistic that Ceribell’s portable EEG could allow faster epilepsy diagnosis and non-convulsive seizure detection, and that this could provide significant patient value by improving diagnosis rates. Better diagnosis has the potential to deliver better clinical outcomes and significant cost reductions for patients, payors and healthcare organizations.
Reflecting our commitment to exploring how new technologies could support and improve patient experiences, we have recently invested in Ceribell, an exciting Silicon Valley based healthcare startup company founded out of Stanford University.
Although electroencephalogram (EEG) systems have been available for many years to support epilepsy diagnosis and non-convulsive seizure detection, these systems have traditionally been hospital based and required dedicated and specially trained personnel and expensive equipment. Considering the time needed to access and set up the equipment, and to interpret the results, patients can spend between 22 and 48 hours undergoing diagnosis. As a result, demand for EEG diagnosis tends to massively exceed the available supply. This can create significant waiting periods during which time sub-clinical seizures may remain undetected and untreated. These waiting periods can significantly impact the lives of patients and present increased morbidity and mortality risks.
Ceribell have developed a novel, innovative and disruptive clinical quality portable EEG system which allows for instant epilepsy diagnosis and non-convulsive seizure detection in a hospital setting. The new system consists of a disposable headband requiring a 3-minute setup, a portable pocket size EEG recording device and proprietary method of sonification of seizure EEG recordings which allows for seizure detection with an impressive success rate.
We are optimistic that Ceribell’s portable EEG could allow faster epilepsy diagnosis and non-convulsive seizure detection, and that this could provide significant patient value by improving diagnosis rates. Better diagnosis has the potential to deliver better clinical outcomes and significant cost reductions for patients, payors and healthcare organizations.
We’re very excited to be collaborating with Ceribell, and we look forward to sharing our knowledge about epilepsy management and patient experiences and to learning more about the seizure diagnostic journey.
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