Seizures captured on a smartphone found diagnostic for epilepsy

On a yes-no basis, 78% of those who evaluated the smartphone videos judged them to be adequate for a diagnosis. An analysis of those considered to be poor quality by expert and resident viewers was presented as a separate report . The most common reasons that smartphone videos were considered to have inadequate quality, according to this analysis, were inadequate duration, insufficient lighting, and poor audio. In other words, essentially all of the problems stemmed from inadequate technique, not technical limitations, reported Erin E. Coonan, an undergraduate research intern working with Dr. Tatum.

“We think that disseminating information to the general public about how to take an adequate quality smartphone video could increase the quality of these videos when they are brought to the clinic,” Ms. Coonan reported. She and Dr. Tatum believe that patient-submitted smartphone videos will be increasingly common tool in clinical medicine, making information about proper technique valuable.

Most U.S. adults now carry smartphones, and these are becoming increasingly common even in resource-poor areas of the world, according to Dr. Tatum. He said that clinical medicine should embrace this technology.

“The cost of a smartphone video is essentially zero, but our data suggest that they can be a useful adjunctive diagnostic tool,” Dr. Tatum said.

The presenters reported no potential conflicts of interest related to these studies.

SOURCE: Tatum W et al., AES 2017 abstract 3.161 and Coonan E et al., AES 2017 abstract 3.070