FDA Approves NeuroCap EEG Device, Surgical Approaches Advantages Identified, Ocrelizumab Observed in Elders

This week Neurology News Network covered the FDA approval of the NeuroCap EEG device, results from a systematic review of minimally invasive and traditional surgical approaches, and additional risks identified in patients with multiple sclerosis over 55 years of age treated with ocrelizumab.

Welcome to this special edition of Neurology News Network. I’m Marco Meglio. Please excuse our appearance this week as a majority of the US workforce, including the NeurologyLive team, moves to working remote as we come together to help reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Brain Scientific announced that the FDA has given 510(k) clearance for its next-generation NeuroCap EEG headset device. The NeuroCap is a pre-gelled disposable EEG headset with 22 electrodes and 19 active EEG channels that can be used for recording EEGs in neurology clinics, urban and rural emergency departments, intensive care units (ICUs), urgent care clinics, nursing homes, and a variety of other settings. The fixed electrode placement is in accordance with the international 10-20 system and is compatible with another other encephalographs and amplifiers of EEG signals by the use of a special adapter. The process of placing electrodes and measuring the patient’s head is removed because of the cap’s pre-gelled fixed electrode locations. This also enables the use of the device by healthcare workers other than specialized neurological technicians.

The results of a newly published systematic review of a number of databases have identified a number of possible advantages and comparisons between minimally invasive and traditional surgical approaches to treating mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Particularly, the data suggest that magnetic resonance‐guided laser interstitial thermal therapy (MRgLITT) is safe and effective but has a significantly lower rate of Engel Class I outcomes, defined as seizure freedom, compared to the conventional approaches of anterior temporal lobe resection (ATL) or selective amygdalohippocampectomy (sAHE). Similar rates of Engel Class I outcomes were observed with radiofrequency ablation (RFA), though MRgLITT and RFA showed a tendency to be more advantageous compared to ATL and sAHE in terms of procedure complications.

Data from a recent study suggest that patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) over 55 years of age face additional risks while on ocrelizumab compared to patients under 55 years of age. These findings were presented virtually by Evan Luxenberg, MD, resident, University of Washington, at the ACTRIMS Forum 2021. Luxenberg and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of all ocrelizumab-treated patients infused at the University of Washington MS Center’s infusion suite in order to assess clinical and laboratory parameters in patients over the age of 55 years. They found that 14 patients over 55 years of age stopped ocrelizumab treatment. This decision was made due to MS progression in 5 patients, repeated or severe infections in 5 patients, including 1 with fatal pneumonia, unfavorable risk-to-benefit ratio in 2 patients, worsening psoriasis in 1 patient, and autologous stem cell transplant in 1 patient.

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