Overview
- Researchers from Fundación Instituto Leloir/CONICET and Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires profiled blood with high‑field NMR in a monitored video‑EEG unit, sampling patients before and after seizures.
- In a discovery cohort of 32 epilepsy patients and 28 controls, the team reported 14 metabolites that differed between groups and 7 that shifted within patients pre‑ versus post‑seizure.
- Altered compounds included less common metabolites such as hipurate, pyroglutamate and isovalerate, which stood out in the epilepsy context.
- The authors say the signature could inform a future rapid diagnostic kit similar to a hemoglucotest, and they plan to expand the sample and add centers to validate the findings.
- With about 30% of patients resistant to antiseizure drugs and tens of millions affected globally, the work highlights a need for better diagnostic and monitoring tools.