AI detects brain abnormalities in children with epilepsy

MELD Graph, a context-aware graph neural network, could drastically change the care for 30,000 patients in the UK and four million worldwide with one cause of epilepsy, the researchers said.

The study, published in JAMA Neurology by a team at King’s College London and University College London (UCL), shows how the tool significantly improves the detection of focal cortical dysplasia’s (FCDs), which is a leading cause of epilepsy.

The researchers said the tool will accelerate diagnosis times, get patients the surgical treatment they need quicker, and reduce costs to the NHS by up to £55,000 per patient.

In the UK, 1 in 100 people are affected by epilepsy. 1 in 5 people with epilepsy have seizures caused by a structural abnormality, or lesion, in the brain.

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FCDs are a common structural cause of epilepsy and difficult to control with medications, but surgery to remove the lesion can be effective. However, FCDs can be subtle and difficult to see with the human eye and up to half of these lesions are missed by radiologists.