Transcranial rotating permanent magnet stimulation for focal continuous spike-and-wave during sleep: First-in-human pediatric pilot study.

Ten children completed one monitored session of a wearable rotating-permanent-magnet intervention without a serious event, and their short-term EEG spike burden decreased. The study did not test symptoms, learning, durability or benefit against sham treatment.

Bansal L, Pawar K, Vargas L, Helekar SA.
Seizure · Publication date: 2026-09-15
Added to site: 2026-09-21
DOI: 10.1016/j.seizure.2026.09.012

Electronic publication date verified in Europe PMC; the record was first indexed September 21, 2026.

Modalities

Permanent magnet stimulation, EEG, Neuromodulation

Clinical focus

Continuous spike-and-wave during sleep, Pediatric epilepsy, Safety and feasibility

Population

Children with focal CSWS undergoing inpatient epilepsy monitoring

Sample

10 children ages 3 to 14 with focal continuous spike-and-wave during sleep

Intervention / method

One 10-minute focal stimulation session targeted to the scalp-EEG-defined epileptogenic region, with continuous video EEG before and after

Comparator

Within-participant pre-post comparison without sham or untreated control; two blinded pediatric epileptologists independently scored spike-wave index

Clinician summary

Both blinded reviewers found lower sleep and awake spike-wave index after a single session, and five participants crossed the predefined sleep-SWI response threshold. No serious adverse events, induced seizures, significant vital-sign changes or device complications were reported during this limited observation.

How to interpret the findings

This was an open-label, uncontrolled study of ten children after one 10-minute session. The primary outcome was an acute electrophysiologic measure, not cognition, seizure frequency or function. Small-sample safety observations cannot establish broader safety, and durability is unknown.

Equipment and disclosures

The intervention was a novel wearable transcranial rotating permanent magnet stimulation platform targeted from scalp EEG. Device model, field specifications and manufacturer were not available in the checked abstract; this was not described as PEMF.

Funding and competing-interest details were not available in the checked indexed record.

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