Method of monitoring a patient for seizure activity
A method of monitoring a patient for seizure activity may include detecting portions of elevated electromyography signal amplitude and analyzing whether the elevations meet one or characteristics of either an epileptic seizure or non-epileptic psychogenic event.
1. A method of monitoring a patient for seizure activity comprising:
collecting an electromyography signal using one or more electromyography electrodes;
sending the electromyography signal to a processor;
processing with the processor the collected electromyography signal to identify when the electromyography signal includes elevations in signal amplitude;
analyzing with the processor whether times between said elevations in signal amplitude within a clonic window change in a manner indicative of a non-epileptic psychogenic event;
said analyzing includes determining a linear fit for how said times between said elevations in signal amplitude change over time, obtaining a slope from said linear fit, and determining that the times between said elevations are indicative of a non-epileptic psychogenic event in response to the slope being less than the maximum threshold value; and
reporting the non-epileptic psychogenic event to a caregiver in the event that said non-epileptic psychogenic event is identified.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said maximum threshold value is about 0.8.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein said clonic window includes a start time determined using one or more seizure-detection routines.
4. The method of claim 1 wherein said clonic window includes a start time determined using one or more seizure-detection routines; and
wherein at least one of said one or more seizure-detection routines is configured to detect one or more times near the start of a clonic phase of a seizure.
5. The method of claim 1 wherein said clonic window includes a start time and an end time, each of said start time and said end time is determined using one or more seizure-detection routines; and
wherein at least one of said one or more seizure-detection routines is configured to detect one or more times near the start of a clonic phase of a seizure.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
analyzing whether the times between said elevations in signal amplitude within said clonic window change in a manner indicative of an epileptic seizure; and
reporting an epileptic seizure to a caregiver in response to the times between said elevations changing in a manner indicative of the epileptic seizure.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein said clonic window includes a start time determined using one or more seizure-detection routines.
8. The method of claim 6 wherein said clonic window includes a start time determined using one or more seizure-detection routines; and
wherein at least one of said one or more seizure-detection routines is configured to detect one or more times near the start of a clonic phase of a seizure.
9. The method of claim 6 wherein said clonic window includes a start time and an end time, each of said start time and said end time determined using one or more seizure-detection routines; and
wherein at least one of said one or more seizure-detection routines is configured to detect one or more times near the start of a clonic phase of a seizure.
10. A method of monitoring a patient for seizure activity comprising:
processing with a processor electromyography signal data to identify when the electromyography signal data includes elevations in signal amplitude;
analyzing with the processor whether times between said elevations in signal amplitude within a clonic window change in a manner indicative of a non-epileptic psychogenic event;
said analyzing includes determining a linear fit for how said times between said elevations in signal amplitude change over time, obtaining a slope from said linear fit, and determining that the times between said elevations are indicative of a non-epileptic psychogenic event in response to the slope being less than the maximum threshold value; and
reporting the non-epileptic psychogenic event to a caregiver in the event that said non-epileptic psychogenic event is identified.
11. A computer including a processor programmed with instructions for executing a method for analyzing a collected electromyography signal for non-epileptic psychogenic events, the method comprising:
processing with the processor the collected electromyography signal to identify when the electromyography signal includes elevations in signal amplitude;
analyzing with the processor whether times between said elevations in signal amplitude within a clonic window change in a manner indicative of a non-epileptic psychogenic event by determining a linear fit for how said times between said elevations in signal amplitude change over time, obtaining a slope from said linear fit, and determining that the times between said elevations are indicative of a non-epileptic psychogenic event in response to the slope being less than the maximum threshold value; and
reporting the non-epileptic psychogenic event to a caregiver in the event that said non-epileptic psychogenic event is identified.
12. The computer of claim 11 , the method further comprising determining if said slope is above a minimum threshold value.
13. The computer of claim 11 , the method further comprising determining a start time for said clonic window using one or more seizure detection routines configured to detect one or more times near the start of a clonic phase of a seizure.