Wearable brain scanner to facilitate testing for children with epilepsy

A wearable brain scanner, co-developed by UCL researchers, is now being used in a specialist clinic for children with epilepsy. The new wearable optically pumped magnetometer magnetoencephalography (OPM-MEG) system, based on technology developed by researchers at UCL and the University of Nottingham, is integrated into a magnetically shielded room at a new diagnostic suite hosted by the Young Epilepsy charity. Professor Gareth Barnes, who has led the project at the UCL Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, said: "This is the UK's first MEG brain scanner that will be dedicated to a paediatric clinical population. It is the younger children with epilepsy who benefit the most from early diagnosis and treatment, but these children are traditionally the most difficult to scan. The new system will not only allow us to scan younger children, but the non-invasive brain images it supplies may also help minimise, or entirely remove, some invasive surgical procedures." Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a diagnostic tool which measures the changes in magnetic field generated by neuronal activity in the brain. This activity occurs naturally and the whole scan is completely non-invasive. An MEG study is recognised as one of the most advanced methods of recording and evaluating brain function and its use in epilepsy is well established.