Neuro-oncology team pioneer patient seizure tracker | Our news

The neuro-oncology team at Barts Health has pioneered and co-developed a Seizure Tracker in the BRIAN app that can help people living with a brain tumour monitor their seizures better. 

The team— mainly based at St. Bartholomew’s neuro-oncology clinic, and The Royal London Hospital’s neurosurgery ward—care for patients with brain tumours.  

Many patients with brain tumours can experience seizures and monitoring is essential in ensuring the right treatment is given, to prevent more seizures happening. 

What is a seizure? 

A seizure occurs when there is an abnormal burst of electrical activity that disturbs the normal functions of the brain, leading to mixing up of messages. Seizures can cause various symptoms which can range from brief loss of awareness to whole body jerking. Recurring and repeated seizures usually leads to a diagnosis of epilepsy.  

• About 2 in 3 people diagnosed with a brain tumour will experience at least 1 seizure 

• Seizures are the most common first symptom leading to a brain tumour diagnosis in adults 

• Not every brain tumour patient will experience a seizure or have epilepsy 

• Severity of seizures will differ for each person 

• Accurate documentation will help targeted treatment for patients 

The new Seizure Tracker collects valuable data on a patient's seizure which includes the seizure type, symptoms, time of the day, seizure duration, possible triggers, and location where the seizure occurred. 

The idea of an electronic seizure diary was proposed by the neuro-oncology team, from the work of my predecessor research nurse, Molly Hilling, and provided clinical advice by Anam Anzak (NIHR Clinical Lecturer – Neurosurgery & Neurosurgery Specialist Registrar) and Britta Wandschneider (Consultant Neurologist). App development was lengthy and expensive, so I brought it forward to work with the BRIAN app developers to make the Seizure Tracker while remaining on a free platform that is available for patients to use. With the shift of preference to using digital means to document from paper-based, having a seizure tracker in your mobile device is convenient. The Seizure Tracker provides an extensive amount of data that is essential for HCPs to find out possible triggers and to provide anti-epileptic treatment for brain tumour patients. This removes the stress for patients and their carers having to bring a paper diary to accurately monitor seizures - Paolo, clinical research nurse 

The fantastic team at Barts Health have also become one of the lead teams in the Tessa Jowell Academy which provides free, virtual resources and courses for nurses and AHPs who want to improve their knowledge and skills in brain tumour care. Providing our healthcare staff with these recourses will vastly improve quality of care for our brain tumour patients, and would also provide CPD-accredited certificates. 

This is all part of the team's designation as centre of excellence, and they will be playing a lead role along with ten other brain tumour centres of excellence. The need for the academy arises from lack of formal educational resources for neuro-oncology. 

Read more

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