Abstracts

Rationale: EEGs completed in the intensive care units (ICU) are generally time-consuming and practically not easy in a busy hospital setting. Moreover a lot of environmental factors and artifacts interfere with the quality of the recording. We report our experience using shorter recording EEG time in critically ill patients. Methods: All adult patients admitted to the ICU at our university hospital in year 2011 and who required EEG were included. Modified brief duration EEG with 8 subdermal electrodes was done in emergency settings for the majority of the cases. Electrodes used were Fp1/2, C3/4, T3/4 and O1/2. Some patients had continuous EEG done after initial EEG or additional daily EEGs. Charts were reviewed for patients' demographics, diagnosis, medications and complications. All initial EEGs per patient were reviewed for background characterization and identification of periodic patterns, discharges or seizures. Repeated EEGs were excluded for this analysis. Results: The initial EEGs of 62 patients were analyzed. The mean age was 59(range 19-87). Seventy percent were males. Average EEG duration was 10.95 minutes (range 5-18). Regarding background characterization: 74 % had diffuse slowing, the majority being moderate or severe and 6.5 % had electrocerebral silence. Only 3% were within normal limits. Seizures and epileptic discharges were seen in 9.7 % of cases. Triphasics were identified in 6.5 %. Technically, impedances were perfect, with less 60 Hz artifacts and motion artifacts compared to disk electrodes. Notch was used at times and each recording occupied the technician for less than 20 minutes totally including EEG hookup. No local skin complications were observed. Conclusions: In a hospital with limited resources a 10 minutes EEG using subdermal electrodes can be an easy, efficient and practical alternative to traditional prolonged EEG in critically ill patients. Further comparative studies to prolonged EEG are needed to assess impact on management and prognosis.