EYSZ Case Study
EYSZ is a medical device/ support startup that offers a mobile application solution to children who experience an uncontrollable illness.
EYSZ is a medical device/ support startup that offers a mobile application solution to children who experience an uncontrollable illness.
Eysz is building a digital health platform to enable personalized medicine for neurological disorders starting with epilepsy, one of the most common and expensive neurological disorders.
Unfortunately, current treatment plans rely heavily on subjective patient reports, leading to potential inaccuracies and inefficiencies. This lack of data translates to extended trial-and-error periods, increased healthcare costs and diminished patient outcomes.
The Eysz team did not have any technical members on their team and needed an innovation partner that could help them design an app to test seizures. Since this app was going to be used during a study for FDA approval we had to follow HIPAA and FDA regulations. The team also needed two different experiences – one for the patient and another for the clinician to receive the data. Additionally, Eysz wanted to gamify the experience to give points and rewards to patients using the app.
We created a proof of concept app as the first step in determining if eye tracking could actually detect if a patient is having a seizure. The app streamlined in-clinic hyperventilation (HV) recordings and delivered detailed patient reports through an accessible and efficient platform. We designed the app to be used by children from ages of 5-14 who were suffering from Childhood Absence Epilepsy (CAE), their parents, and clinicians.. To create the app we did the following:
We partnered with Enzyme, a JIRA for FDA compliance. Our team created documentation for the project through Enzyme, which then made a paper trail for the FDA. Through this process we created the following artifacts:
We made the EYSZ application accessible across platforms so clinicians can use it during in-clinic visits. The app’s data can also be accessed through a web browser so clinicians can have flexibility to review data from various locations.
The app’s main functionality was built for performing HV recordings that helped measure the effectiveness of epilepsy treatment in children. Clinicians can conduct multiple HV recordings for a given patient in either training mode or screening mode, depending on the clinical requirements. To ensure consistent monitoring, the frequency of hyperventilations can be set to three times per week. This regular data collection makes an accurate patient assessment and treatment planning possible.
In addition to the data collection, Eysz app also synchronizes itself with EEG devices. The software ensures that the time on both devices is the same and electronically records this confirmation. This feature maintains data integrity and accuracy and provides reliable data for clinical analysis.On the patient side, the app allowed parents to manage and monitor their children’s neurological conditions from the comfort of their homes. With the Eysz app, parents can manually record their children’s seizure activity, which provides clinicians valuable data for ongoing treatment assessment. The app is equipped with a calendar feature that displays prescribed HV sessions. Parents can easily view scheduled sessions and initiate the HV process as prescribed by their clinician. This feature ensures adherence to treatment protocols and enhances the effectiveness of the prescribed therapy.
The study was found successful, and Eysz was able to complete a more in-depth clinical study supported by an NIH Phase 1 SBIR Grant involving 4 Level 4 Epilepsy Centers to analyze ictal eye-movement data and develop algorithms. Since that study the team has grown and they received more funding to continue onto more studies to gain approval for a full application built by their team.
