Ambulatory electroencephalography (EEG) in children: diagnostic yield and tolerability.
Sixty-four children, aged 0-17 years, undergoing ambulatory electroencephalography (EEG) were prospectively recruited during a 12-month period. The diagnostic yield of ambulatory electroencephalography was determined for each of the following groups: group 1: differentiation of seizures from nonepileptic events; group 2: determination of seizure/interictal discharge frequency; and group 3: classification of seizure type or localization. The ambulatory electroencephalography answered the clinical question in 61% of group 1 (27/44) and 100% of groups 2 (16/16) and 3 (4/4). Of 44 cases in Group 1, clinical events were recorded in 61%; the ambulatory electroencephalography result changed the diagnosis from epileptic to nonepileptic or vice versa in 27%. When clinicians suspected that events were epileptic, ambulatory electroencephalography changed the clinical impression in 50%, whereas when events were suspected to be nonepileptic, ambulatory electroencephalography confirmed that impression in 83%.
Wirrell
Elaine
E
Child and Adolescent Neurology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota 55902, USA. wirrell.elaine@mayo.edu
Kozlik
Silvia
S
Tellez
Jose
J
Wiebe
Samuel
S
Hamiwka
Lorie
L
D000293:Adolescent; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D017029:Epilepsy, Complex Partial / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory; D018302:Neoplasms, Neuroepithelial / Q000175:diagnosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013724:Teratoma / Q000175:diagnosis; D014402:Tuberous Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis