This Thanksgiving week, as Epilepsy Awareness month closes out, we’re gratified to see an innovation tested here at Boston Children’s—a wearable device for patients with epilepsy—move toward commercial development. Called Embrace, it’s like a “smoke alarm” for unwitnessed seizures that could potentially prevent tragic cases of sudden, unexpected death from epilepsy (SUDEP):
The Bluetooth-enabled, sensor-loaded watch, designed by Rosalind Picard, ScD, and colleagues at the MIT Media Lab, can detect the onset of a convulsive seizure based on the wearer’s movements and autonomic nervous system activity. Parents, caregivers or even roommates can wear a “companion” Embrace that vibrates an alert, so they can quickly intervene.
The developers have formed the company Empatica to commercialize the watch and are now running a crowdfunding campaign—buy one, and another is donated to a child with epilepsy, courtesy of the Epilepsy Foundation. Their plan is then to conduct final product-validation tests and go for FDA clearance.
Read more about research on the device at Boston Children’s Epilepsy Centerand its promise not just for preventing SUDEP, but for helping understand children’s overall seizure patterns so to better time epilepsy medications.
