The unforeseen future: Impacts of the COVID‐19 pandemic on home video‐EEG telemetry

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic had widespread impact on health care systems globally—particularly services arranged around elective admission and attendance such as epilepsy monitoring units and home video‐EEG telemetry (HVET). Here, we review the ongoing impacts of the pandemic on HVET services among several different providers who used different initial models of HVET. We discuss the features of HVET that led to success in providing continued diagnostic services to patients with epilepsy and related disorders and through retrospective audit of our services demonstrate the high diagnostic yield of HVET. We reflect on this unforeseen future and its implications for other diagnostic techniques and approaches.

Economic aspects of prolonged home video-EEG monitoring: a simulation study

“…Among other reasons, a putatively reduced nancial cost compared to the in-hospital procedure made it an attractive potential alternative. During the COVID-19 pandemic, this option became even more appealing (Brunnhuber et al, 2022). Slater et al, 2019, demonstrated that the average cost of HVEM per patient is substantially lower than that of the in-hospital VEM (4098 USD vs. 13821 USD) when the duration of both procedures is up to one week.…”

Mobile health and digital technology in epilepsy: The dawn of a new era

“…The COVID-19 pandemic led to accelerated development and acceptance of telemedicine, including home video-EEG telemetry, which allowed for providing continued diagnostic services to patients with epilepsy and related disorders during the lockdown. 2 In 2021, the International League Against Epilepsy and the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology issued a clinical practice guideline on automated seizure detection using wearables. 3,4 The guideline recommends the use of wearables for detection of generalized tonicclonic seizures, including focal-to-bilateral tonic-clonic seizures, for safety indications, and highlights the need for further development and research for other indications and other seizure types.…”

“…Possible strategies include home video‐EEG monitoring and ultralong monitoring using wearable devices. The COVID‐19 pandemic led to accelerated development and acceptance of telemedicine, including home video‐EEG telemetry, which allowed for providing continued diagnostic services to patients with epilepsy and related disorders during the lockdown 2 …”