Microcomputer-based system for the detection and quantification of petit mal epilepsy.

A petit mal seizure detector totally implemented in a 16 bit microcomputer and capable of analyzing on-line at least one channel of EEG data is described. The system uses the repetition period of the wave complexes as the primary parameter for the detection and performs well in clinically significant seizures. Besides characterizing the paroxysms in duration and time of occurrence, the system also evaluates on-line the mean values and variances of the detection parameters, yielding more quantitative information about the seizure data than previously described systems.