Multimodal, automated detection of nocturnal motor seizures at home: Is a reliable seizure detector feasible?

Objective: Automated seizure detection and alarming could improve quality of life and potentially prevent sudden, unexpected death in patients with severe epilepsy. As currently available systems focus on tonic-clonic seizures, we want to detect a broader range of seizure types, including tonic, hypermotor, and clusters of seizures.

Methods: In this multicenter, prospective cohort study, the nonelectroencephalographic (non-EEG) signals heart rate and accelerometry were measured during the night in patients undergoing a diagnostic video-EEG examination. Based on clinical video-EEG data, seizures were classified and categorized as clinically urgent or not. Seizures included for analysis were tonic, tonic-clonic, hypermotor, and clusters of short myoclonic/tonic seizures. Features reflecting physiological changes in heart rate and movement were extracted. Detection algorithms were developed based on stepwise fulfillment of conditions during increases in either feature. A training set was used for development of algorithms, and an independent test set was used for assessing performance.

Results: Ninety-five patients were included, but due to sensor failures, data from only 43 (of whom 23 patients had 86 seizures, representing 402 h of data) could be used for analysis. The algorithms yield acceptable sensitivities, especially for clinically urgent seizures (sensitivity = 71-87%), but produce high false alarm rates (2.3-5.7 per night, positive predictive value = 25-43%). There was a large variation in the number of false alarms per patient.

Significance: It seems feasible to develop a detector with high sensitivity, but false alarm rates are too high for use in clinical practice. For further optimization, personalization of algorithms may be necessary.