How can technology be used to help people with epilepsy?

  There are already many companies trying to help people with epilepsy through wearable devices. A San Francisco company designed the Dialog patch, an MIT team developed the “Embrace” smartwatch, and AdhereTech launched a smart pillbox. …… Now, the startup company BioSerenity has invented a smart shirt called WEMU, which is called Wearable Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (WEMU).  The lack of information about epilepsy patients can lead to sub-optimal diagnosis and treatment. This new WEMU smart garment is designed to improve diagnostic accuracy, reduce diagnostic time, and provide patients with more accurate medication.  The WEMU system consists of a smart shirt and smart cap with built-in drying sensors that regularly monitor a patient’s heart, muscle and brain activity. The sensors are connected to a rechargeable battery pack via embedded electronics and the physiological data received is transmitted to a smartphone app via low-energy Bluetooth.  The smartphone app analyzes the received data and allows access by the patient or a medical professional. The data on the smartphone can also be uploaded to a cloud service via a secure connection so that the doctor can perform remote consultations. In addition to improving patient diagnosis and treatment, the WEMU system allows more accurate seizure information to be made available to epilepsy research organizations for valuable studies.  The WEMU project hopes to enable more patients to participate in the treatment process and to analyze the vast amount of patient data before, during and after the disease through a cloud-based database that will help provide a deeper understanding of epilepsy.