title: Usefulness of long-term video-EEG monitoring in children at a tertiary care center.
abstract: The value of video-electroencephalographic monitoring (EEG-VM) in evaluating patients with epileptic disorders constitutes a major research field. This study investigates the usefulness of inpatient long-term EEG-VM for pediatric neurology patients under four headings: pre-surgical evaluation; seizure classification; epileptic seizure and non-epileptic paroxysmal event differentiation; and antiepileptic drug (AED) treatment modification. A retrospective study of 101 patients over a one-year period was carried out. The results showed that following EEG-VM, 57.4% of the patients were referred for discussion to the epilepsy surgery conference regarding resective surgery, and of these, 31% were deemed to be surgical candidates. The seizure classification assigned to the patients before EEG-VM changed in 73.3% of the patients after EEG-VM. Regarding the differentiation between epileptic seizure and non-epileptic paroxysmal events, a diagnosis of psychogenic non-epileptic seizure (PNES) was made in 4% of the patients after EEG-VM. EEG-VM outcomes led to the modification of AED treatment in 68.3% of the patients. These significant alterations demonstrate the usefulness of EEG-VM in the management of pediatric neurology patients.
authors.affiliation: Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, Dublin, Ireland, Hacettepe University Faculty of Medicine, Ankara, Turkey. selinonay@rcsi.ie.
authors.forename: Selin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Onay
authors.forename: Dilek
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yalnızoğlu
authors.forename: Meral
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Topçu
authors.forename: Güzide
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Turanlı
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D013997:Time Factors; D014741:Video Recording / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*