Abstracts

Rationale: The standard of care adhesive material, collodion, used for long-term electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings can be associated with adverse patient outcomes (ex. skin irritation), in addition to challenging odors that can impact both patients and EEG technicians and require Occupational Safety and Health Administration compliant ventilation. We aim to evaluate the safety, tolerability and quality of outpatient routine EEG recordings using a new water-soluble adhesive, Tensive, compared to collodion in adult subjects in order to assess feasibility of future comparative testing in patients undergoing long-term EEG recordings. Methods: Ten volunteer subjects underwent routine EEG recordings (mean recording time=61 (SD=17) minutes; 19 studies total) with each of two study adhesives (Tensive and collodion; studies were conducted 27.8 (SD=22.48) days apart), with electrodes fitted with a standard 10-20 array. One EEG technician conducted all recordings. All EEG recordings were read independently by two epilepsy board-certified neurologists blinded to subject characteristics and adhesive material.  The epileptologists rated each recording on a 4-point subjective scale for quality (1=poor to 4=excellent). Participant subjective experience was assessed retrospectively (mean=32 [SD=20] days after EEG study) regarding skin irritation (4-point scale; none to severe), required shampoos to remove adhesive (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or more), hair loss (yes/no) and bothersome odor (none, smell noted, strong odor with eye or cough/headache/breathing symptoms). Impedance values were recorded at the onset of the EEG study (within mean=2.5 [SD=3.9] minutes) and mean values for all electrodes in aggregate for each study were calculated. Results: Descriptive statistics and trends were evaluated between Tensive compared to collodion adhesive EEG groups; this study was designed to assess feasibility of future long-term EEG testing and was not powered for statistical group comparisons. EEG recording quality was rated as 'good' or 'excellent' for Collodion adhesive studies (N=9) and at least 'adequate' for those using Tensive adhesive (N=10) by two-independent blinded epilepsy board-certified neurologists. Participants retrospectively reported 'none' (N=8) or 'mild' (N=1) skin irritation, '1-2'(N=9) shampoos, and 'no bothersome odor' (N=9) with EEGs studies using Tensive adhesive (N=9), while participants reported 'mild to severe' (N=9) skin irritation, '2-4 shampoos' (N=9), and 'bothersome odor' (N=6) with EEG studies using Collodion adhesive (N=9). EEG impedance values checked shortly after hook-up (within mean (SD) time) were within acceptable range (1.6-3.3 kOhms Collodion; N=8 and 0.9-3.3 kOhms Tensive; N=9). Conclusions: Evaluating the quality of EEG recordings and subjective experience of participants for two different adhesives in short-term EEG recordings is feasible. A larger, powered, and comparative study is needed to determine clinical effectiveness between collodion and Tensive in long-term EEG studies. Funding: No funding