Researchers from Rutgers Health and other institutions were awarded a grant for $2.8 million over the course of three years from the National Institutes of Health to improve implantable devices for epileptic patients. The grant will fund a program to develop the next generation of responsive neurostimulation devices that can be implanted in the brains of people affected with severe epileptic seizures to reduce or eliminate their occurrence. The researchers said an existing device is effective in reducing seizure frequency among patients, however, it eliminates seizures in 15% to 20% percent of them.
“We are excited to initiate a promising project focused on developing a new treatment option for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy,” said Hai Sun, vice chair of clinical affairs and associate professor of neurosurgery in the Department of Neurosurgery at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and chief of neurosurgery at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, an RWJBarnabas Health facility. “Our goal is to design and implement a new generation of devices that are equipped with a better seizure prediction algorithm and can stimulate larger areas of the brain where seizures initiate. We plan to bring this device to market, in the next five years.” To rea the full story.