A first-responder EEG device for seizure management in a nerve gas attack

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Nerve gas agents are seen by many as the poor man's atom bomb. As demonstrated in the March 1995 Tokyo subway attack, they can be used to inflict mass casualties in densely populated, confined air spaces. Medical management consists primarily of removing patients to an open air space. Atropine is administered and convulsions are titrated with benzodiazepines to seizure termination (de Jong 2003). Importantly, if convulsive activity stops, it may represent nerve agent-induced paralysis rather than termination of seizure activity, and EEG monitoring is required (Hostege et al. 1997). This project develops a first-responder EEG device for seizure management in the event of a nerve gas attack. A modified version of Persyst Reveal software will be used to solve the steady-state seizure detection problem. A wireless EEG amplifier will be developed by the Bio-Signal Group. The computing platform will be based on an off-the-shelf Pocket PC. Our goal is to make the device usable without prior instruction. Mass casualties are expected at the scene of a nerve gas attack. The proposed device should greatly reduce the neurological complications - including irreversible brain damage and death - due to prolonged seizures, which might otherwise go undiagnosed due to the paralytic effects of nerve gas agents.