Astro-Med Inc. has received a $799,000 research grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop software for a computer-based early warning system for epileptic seizures.
The company’s Grass-Telefactor Product Group has been working on a system to detect signs of an impending seizure by analyzing a patient’s electrical brainwaves. With financing from a preliminary grant, the scientists demonstrated the feasibility of their technique using electrodes on a patient’s scalp, rather than invasive electrodes.
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The new NIH grant covers a two-year project, starting Aug. 15, to develop and test a “non-invasive and clinically useful system” for seizure anticipation, the West Warwick-based company said in a news release.
The system will first be used in hospital epilepsy monitoring centers where patients are diagnosed and their epilepsies classified using video EEG monitoring over long periods of time. The data will be used to trigger diagnostic tests that must be done promptly at the start of a seizure episode. Grass-Telefactor was “the pioneer” in the development of video EEG monitoring systems in the epilepsy monitoring room, the company said, and it remains a major supplier to hospital epilepsy centers.
“We are very pleased to receive this recent research grant from NIH,” said president Everett V. Pizzuti. “Since early 2000, Astro-Med has been awarded $1,700,000 in research grants that have resulted in clinically useful products that are now sold commercially or are in development.”
For more information about the Grass-Telefactor Product Group, go to www.grass-telefactor.com.
