Utility of Chronic Intracranial Electroencephalography in Responsive Neurostimulation Therapy

Abstract

Responsive neurostimulation (RNS) therapy is an effective treatment for reducing seizures in some patients with focal epilepsy. Utilizing a chronically implanted device, RNS involves monitoring brain activity signals for user-defined patterns of seizure activity and delivering electrical stimulation in response. Devices store chronic data including counts of detected activity patterns and brief recordings of intracranial electroencephalography signals. Data platforms for reviewing stored chronic data retrospectively may be used to evaluate therapy performance and to fine-tune detection and stimulation settings. New frontiers in RNS research can leverage raw chronic data to reverse engineer neurostimulation mechanisms and improve therapy effectiveness.

Keywords: Chronic neural recordings; Closed loop stimulation; Direct electrical stimulation; Electrocorticography; Focal seizures; Intracranial EEG; Responsive neurostimulation.