title: Amplitude-integrated EEG colored according to spectral edge frequency.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To improve the interpretability of figures containing an amplitude-integrated electroencephalogram (aEEG), we devised a color scale that allows us to incorporate spectral edge frequency (SEF) information into aEEG figures. Preliminary clinical assessment of this novel technique, which we call aEEG/SEF, was performed using neonatal and early infantile seizure data.
  
  
  METHODS
  We created aEEG, color density spectral array (DSA), and aEEG/SEF figures for focal seizures recorded in seven infants. Each seizure was paired with an interictal period from the same patient. After receiving instructions on how to interpret the figures, eight test reviewers examined each of the 72 figures displaying compressed data in aEEG, DSA, or aEEG/SEF form (12 seizures and 12 corresponding interictal periods) and attempted to identify each as a seizure or otherwise. They were not provided with any information regarding the original record.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The median number of correctly identified seizures, out of a total of 12, was 7 (58.3%) for aEEG figures, 8 (66.7%) for DSA figures and 10 (83.3%) for aEEG/SEF figures; the differences among these are statistically significant (p=0.011). All reviewers concluded that aEEG/SEF figures were the easiest to interpret.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The aEEG/SEF data presentation technique is a valid option in aEEG recordings of seizures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Child Neurology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Okayama University Hospital, Shikatacho 2-chome 5-1, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8558, Japan. k_koba@md.okayama-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Katsuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Nobuyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Mimaki
authors.forename: Fumika
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Endoh
authors.forename: Takushi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Harumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yoshinaga
authors.forename: Yoko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ohtsuka
mesh_terms: D016477:Artifacts; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000150:complications; D044962:Data Compression / Q000379:methods; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D020803:Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex / Q000150:complications; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D054082:Lissencephaly / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D054220:Malformations of Cortical Development / Q000150:complications; D015588:Observer Variation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013345:Subarachnoid Hemorrhage / Q000150:complications