The biological effects of magnetic stimulation in epileptic patients

Background. The magnetoencephalogram (MEG) is the magnetic activity emitted by the brain, which can be measured using a superconductive quantum interf erence device (SQUID), This is a totally non-invasive method for localizing functional healthy, epileptic and other CNS brain disorders. Methods. Using the MEG brain activity recorded from epileptic patients we w ere able to obtain a mapping technique characterized by the ISO-spectral am plitude of scalp distribution of the MEG Fourier power spectrum. In additio n, by utilizing the above recorded MEG activity we energize an electronic d evice, which emits back to the abnormal brain points of the epileptic patie nts magnetic fields with proper frequencies and intensities, Results, Using this method we present here in more detail three randomly se lected epileptic patients in which application of external magnetic fields of low intensities and frequencies produced a substantial attenuation of th eir abnormal brain activity. Furthermore, we present a statistical analysis of 50 randomly selected epileptic patients who underwent magnetic stimulat ion for the treatment of their seizures and we found that the anticonvulsan t response to magnetic stimulation was statistically significant (chi(2)=6. 55, df=1, p<0.02), Conclusions. Our findings indicate that the use of low external magnetic fi elds produce substantial attenuation in seizure activity in epileptic patie nts and therefore it may open new ways in the future for management of epil eptic activity.