The [b]NeuroPace[/b], an implantable device that reduces seizures in patients plagued by epilepsy, has just been approved by the [b]US Food and Drug Administration[/b], reports [s]The New York Times[/s]. The long-awaited device, called the RNS System, aims to improve the lives of an estimated 400,000 Americans whose epilpesy cannot be treated with drugs or brain surgery. In a randomised clinical trial of 191 people at 32 sites, patients received stimulators but did not know whether they were activated or not. Those with stimulators activated reported a 38% reduction in seizures over three months, compared to a 17% decrease among those whose stimulators were not, according to the results published in [s]Neurology[/s]. Over two years, 90 subjects with the devices turned on experienced a 50 percent or greater reduction in seizures.
[link url=http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/25/health/easing-epilepsy-with-battery-power.html?emc=edit_th_20140325&nl=todaysheadlines&nlid=60640071] Full New York Times report[/link]
[link url=http://www.fda.gov/MedicalDevices/ProductsandMedicalProcedures/DeviceApprovalsandClearances/Recently-ApprovedDevices/ucm376685.htm"> USFDA overview of RNS device
[link url=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21917777] Neurology abstract only[/link]