Can Portable EEGs Make Seizure Diagnosis More Accessible for Children in Columbia?

Methods

Summary

(Pending IRB approval...)

We will recruit pediatric neurologists from Houston, TX and El Paso, TX to capture perspectives across diverse clinical and geographic contexts. Patients with confirmed seizure disorders and their caregivers, who have prior experience with hospital-based EEG testing, will also be recruited.

Data collection will involve two complementary approaches:

1. Qualitative Interviews: Semi-structured interviews will be conducted with clinicians, patients, and caregivers to explore perceptions of feasibility, acceptability, usability, and trust in mobile EEG systems. Interviews will be audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed thematically using Dedoose qualitative software.

2. Pilot EEG Sessions: Consenting patients will undergo a brief EEG recording session using the BrainCapture-1 (BC-1) system. Sessions will be overseen by trained research staff, with caregivers present for pediatric participants. Recordings will be reviewed and compared with standard hospital-based EEGs for interpretability and detection of clinically relevant features.EEG recording session using the BrainCapture-1 (BC-1) system. Sessions will be overseen by trained research staff, with caregivers present for pediatric participants. Recordings will be reviewed and compared with standard hospital-bEEG recording session using the BrainCapture-1 (BC-1) system. Sessions will be overseen by trained research

To evaluate device performance and practical implementation, we will track setup time, successful recording rates, battery life, and ease of data export. Following demonstrations, participants will complete brief post-use surveys to supplement qualitative insights. Findings from both interviews and feasibility testing will be triangulated to assess barriers, opportunities, and strategies for integrating mobile EEG into clinical workflows.

Challenges

Recruitment may be difficulty. Comparing BC-1 recordings to hospital-based EEGs may be limited by scheduling and access to reference data. To mitigate these challenges, we will partner closely with local clinicians for recruitment, conduct pilot training and troubleshooting with BrainCapture technical support (Offered kindly by BrainCapture upon preliminary meeting as part of paid package for BC-1), and build redundancy into data collection by combining interviews, surveys, and EEG session outcomes.

Pre Analysis Plan

Our primary analysis will test the hypothesis that the BrainCapture (BC-1) system is feasible and acceptable to clinicians, patients, and caregivers. Semi-structured interview transcripts will be coded and thematically analyzed using Dedoose to identify recurring themes related to usability, acceptability, and caregiver burden. Post-use survey data will be summarized descriptively, and Likert-scale ratings will be analyzed in GraphPad Prism to quantify acceptability thresholds (≥80% of respondents rating ≥4/5). For patient EEG recordings, where hospital EEGs are available, compare interpretability and epileptiform discharge detection. We will address multiple outcomes by prioritizing feasibility (recording success rates, approval by epileptologist and patient) and acceptability (ratings, themes, direct quotes) as primary endpoints, with caregiver experience and preliminary clinical comparisons as secondary outcomes.