1. BME 482 Kevin Sylvestre

2.  Seizures which are difficult to control, despite treatment  Often must resort to invasive brain surgery to treat  Very dangerous, can lead to status epilepticus (SE)  Persistent seizure, 20% mortality rate, often result in permanent damage

3.  If SE is interrupted and eliminated, this constitutes cure  One method: transcutaneous electrical stimulation (TcES)  Utilizes tripolar concentric ring electrodes, developed by Dr. Walter Besio (currently of URI BME)

4.  High spatial resolution thanks to unique configuration  Desirable in epileptic diagnosis  Potentially useful for epileptic treatment

5.  Experiment in 2007:  16 rats (8 control, 8 experimental)  All have pilocarpine-induced seizures with SE  Experimental given TcES  Result: ▪Experimental group returned to baseline activity after 1-3 applications of TcES, most survived ▪Control group expired after average of 15 hours

6.  No tonic contractions, aversion responses or escape behavior elicited by rats  Rats went about business normally, even during TcES  Most likely indicates painlessness  TES often induces negative reactions  Leaves rats gasping and incapacitated

7.  Besio W., Koka K., Cole A., “Feasibility of Non-invasive Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation for Modulating Pilocarpine-induced Status Epilepticus Seizures in Rats,” Accepted by Epilepsia, 4/18/2007. IF 3.55Feasibility of Non-invasive Transcutaneous Electrical Stimulation for Modulating Pilocarpine-induced Status Epilepticus Seizures in Rats  Besio W., Koka K., Aakula R., Dai W., “Tri-polar Concentric Ring Electrode Development for Laplacian Electroencephalography,” IEEE Trans BME, Vol. 53, No. 5, pp. 926-933, 2006. IF 1.6Tri-polar Concentric Ring Electrode Development for Laplacian Electroencephalography  Status epilepticus. (2010, March 13). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 18:09, April 4, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Status_epilepti cus&oldid=349535889 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Status_epilepti cus&oldid=349535889