A leap forward: Abrazo Health 1st in Phoenix area to use AI system to detect seizures

PHOENIX — Abrazo West Campus announced Friday it is the first hospital in the greater Phoenix area with an EEG system that uses artificial intelligence.

Electroencephalograms (EEG) measure electrical activity in the brain using electrodes attached to the scalp.

Ceribell point-of-care uses AI to quickly detect non-convulsive seizures which can progress to non-convulsive status epilepticus. Seizures may cause irreversible brain damage and may go unrecognized due to a lack of obvious symptoms, according to Abrazo Health.

Machine learning AI powers the EEG system. ICUs or ERs typically use the technology. The first use of the technology at Abrazo West Campus was on an ER patient who was having an active seizure not visible to the eye.

When Ceribell is equipped with Clarity, a machine learning algorithm, the system can interpret EEG signals and will give audible and visual alerts when continuous seizures indicating status epilepticus are detected.

“When clinically suspected, Ceribell bands can be applied to the patient’s head at bedside and the AI can detect seizure right away with very high clinical accuracy,” Dr. Sushant Kale, medical director for Neurology and Stroke at Abrazo West Campus said in a press release.

“This enables the bedside clinician to treat the patient hours before they otherwise would have done it with traditional setup,” he said.

Kale said the technology is a great leap forward to service critically ill patients in the West Valley.

How does the Ceribell point-of-care EEG system work?

The Ceribell System has an EEG headband that is placed on the patient which is connected to a pocket-sized EEG display and recorder.

Continuous AI monitoring sends alerts for dangerously high seizure indications.

Neurologists can see in real-time on a HIPAA-compliant smartphone app, according to Abrazo Health.

EEG information is streamed to a portal and via a smartphone app for remote seizure and medication management

The Neuro Critical Care Society said EEGs should be administered within 15-60 minutes of suspected status epilepticus in all patients.

“Subclinical seizures are a type of seizure where a patient is having a full-blown seizure in the brain but does not have any physical or clinical manifestation from it, which means the patient is not having a typical epileptic fit, so it is very hard to diagnose clinically,” Kale said in the press release.