Non-invasive detection of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) in the mesial temporal lobe (MTL) during sleep

Introduction

Interictal epileptic discharges (IEDs) are pathological brain activities involving sharp spikes in electrical field potentials that occur preferentially during sleep. In epilepsy, IEDs occur between seizures, and often in deep brain regions such as the medial temporal lobe (MTL).

Impact on Memory and Cognition

IEDs during sleep disrupt memory and are associated with cognitive impairments. Importantly, MTL IEDs occur not only in epilepsy but also in multiple neuropsychiatric conditions including:

• Alzheimer’s Disease (AD)
• Autism
• ADHD
• Following traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Need for Detection

A major unmet need is to automatically detect sleep IEDs non-invasively when they occur in deep regions such as the MTL, a task that was believed to be nearly impossible until now.

Development of Detection Tool

We recently developed a novel machine learning-based tool to reliably detect a subset of MTL IEDs non-invasively with high precision. For the first time, IEDs originating in the MTL can be detected even when gold-standard visual inspection by clinical neurologists is impossible.

Research and Commercialization

We will first conduct research to optimize and validate IED detection in:

1. Epilepsy patients
2. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients
3. Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) patients

We will then work to commercialize the tool so that it can be widely used to improve diagnosis, prognosis, drug titration, and risk stratification not only in epilepsy and dementia, but in diverse neurological conditions including TBI, ADHD, Autism, and psychiatric disorders.

Collaboration and Patent Strategy

Together with the technology transfer office of TAU and with business partners already on board, we will work to consolidate and extend the system’s patent family and bring our detection tool to the market.