World-first digital therapy for epilepsy

The therapy, which until now Dr Yoko Nagai has been carrying out ‘in person’ with patients who are resistant to drugs, teaches them to train their brains to be more ‘alert’. More than half of patients taking part in a clinical trial to test this personal therapy reported a reduction in seizure frequency by 50% or more.

Dr Nagai said: "Although I have been helping people with epilepsy face-to-face over the last 15 years, my frustration was only a few people can be treated at a time. I am very motivated to be able to disseminate my therapy to many more patients who can benefit from this non-invasive, effective, accessible and affordable therapy.”

Epilepsy is a neurological condition with which patients suffer from recurrent epileptic seizures. One in 100 people suffer from epilepsy worldwide, making it a common condition. Although the response to medication is relatively good, 30 per cent of patients suffer from drug-resistant epilepsy and there currently are very few alternative treatment options available. Current major non-pharmacological treatments include surgery, deep brain stimulation and vagus nerve stimulation, all of which involves invasive and a high cost surgical procedure. In addition, these are available only to a limited number of patients.

Dr Yoko Nagai with a patient

Dr Nagai’s research has attracted over £300,000 in scientific research grants, including UK major grant body Wellcome Trust. She also started a private clinic at the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in 2005 where she treated patients outside of her research. The clinic is now re-located in Brighton.

Dr Nagai’s therapy, Autonomic Cognitive Rehabilitation Training (ACRT), uses both physiological and psychological approaches to develop skills to control epileptic seizures. ACRT allows people to see how their body responds to their thinking and emotion. By receiving visual feedback about how their body reacts, they are then able to train themselves to become more sensitive to their bodily reactions and control their body’s state of alertness. This ‘alertness’ actually helps patients to calm their brain, reducing the incidence of seizures.

For Michael Meredith, from Brighton, learning the technique has meant he is seizure free for the first time since developing epilepsy six years ago.

He said: “My epilepsy more or less came out of the blue. Despite being on medication for the past six years, I continued to have between three and six seizures a month. I lost my driver’s licence, and as a self-employed carpenter this had a huge impact on my work.”

Michael learned to use biofeedback with Dr Nagai in November 2014: “It was like playing a computer game but using your mind and body rather than controls – with two electrodes on your fingers to measure the biofeedback. You have to drive along an animation, to reach a goal. The first time it was quite tricky, but after a few sessions I really got the technique. Now I’m very happy to be seizure free, and I even hope to reapply for my driver’s licence shortly.”

Dr Nagai is currently fundraising through a crowd fund campaign to complete development of this platform: New Therapy for Epilepsy.