Abstracts

Introduction: The Videoelectroencephalogram (VEEG) is the synchronous and simultaneous recording of electrical brain activity and behavior of the patient during a paroxysmal event, which is useful in epilepsy and the differential diagnosis. Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of VEEG of short duration in epilepsy. Patients and Methods: Retrospective and descriptive. We analyzed 54 studies of VEEG, March 2009 to June 2010, made with digital VEEG GRASS system, using 22 channels for recording EEG, two for eye movements and one for EKG, placed according to the System 10/20 International. Results: Of the 54 patients, 37 (68.5%) were female and 17 (31.5%) males with a mean age of 33.7 6.2 (range 6-76 years). The study duration was 4.15 hours 0.25 (range 1-8 hours). The shipment was diagnosed epilepsy in 29 patients (53.7%) and non epileptic in 25 (46.3%). The type of crisis in the diagnosis of partial seizures in delivery were 43 patients (79.6%) and generalized seizures in 11 (20.4%). 12 patients (22.2%) had seizures during VEEG, 7 seizures and five were non epileptic. Interictal EEG abnormalities were found in 19 patients (35%), all diagnosed with Epilepsy., Of which 14 (79%) had focal epileptiform activity, diffuse slowing in 3 patients (16%), 1 patient (5%) generalized epileptiform activity. 39 patients (72.2%) were referred by neurologists, 9 patients (16.7%) by Psychiatrists, 3 patients (5.6%) per epileptologist and 4 patients by other doctors. The reason of the register was diagnostic in 48 patients (88.9%), preoperative evaluation in 2 (3.7%) and assess the withdrawal of antiepileptic drugs in 4 (7.4%). Discussion: The VEEG is useful in the diagnosis of epilepsy and the differential diagnosis. In this study we found 19 patients with interictal EEG abnormalities that allowed to confirm the diagnosis of epilepsy. 12 patients had seizures during the study, and 5 confirmed the diagnosis of pseudoseizures. We believe that the reason for the low percentage of crisis during the search was not the duration of the study, but the low frequency of seizures in a few of our patients. Conclusion: The percentage of records of crisis depends on the characteristics of patients selected primarily on the frequency of crises and time of registration. In any case, the display of the power crisis and record keeping are of great clinical utility. The high cost of prolonged VEEG and the difficulties of its implementation are a limiting factor in our population, so we consider that the short-term record is also useful.