Nearly half a million Californians live with epilepsy — a neurological condition that causes recurring seizures. That's more than in any other state. But, with the help of AI, rapid advances in neurotechnology may expand access to care.
To diagnose epilepsy, doctors read the brain's electrical activity with a test called an EEG (electroencephalogram). But getting tested has been a bottleneck: hospitals need special equipment, and a specialist to interpret the results.
Dr. Ed Amorim directs the epilepsy service at Zuckerberg San Francisco General. He says new tools, like superficial implants that continuously collect EEG readings, are improving access to care.
"In terms of care deserts, we have portable EEG tools where small hospitals can have access to those easy-to-place EEGs," says Dr. Amorim. The patient's brainwave recording is uploaded to a database where AI is used to analyze EEG data. "There is some automated analysis that happens there," Dr. Amorim explains. "And the EEG becomes available to an expert to review remotely."
EEG tools are commonly used to study and diagnose seizures. But teams like Dr. Jin Hyung Lee's at the Neuvera Brain Health Institute are finding new ways to use the technology.
When patients visit Dr. Lee's clinic, she says her team will "Do a measurement and then we'll be able to say like, 'Oh, your brain has this subtle signal abnormality here, and this probably means that you have, through this mechanism, inability to read or concentrate.'"
Dr. Lee’s work has won several awards. But there's still a long way to go. Research has not yet established that AI-enhanced EEG can diagnose neurological conditions with the level of specificity that Dr. Lee describes. For now, the promise is greater access to care. How far these tools can reliably go beyond diagnosing epilepsy is still an open question.
