title: Novel wireless electroencephalography system with a minimal preparation time for use in emergencies and prehospital care.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although clinical applications such as emergency medicine and prehospital care could benefit from a fast-mounting electroencephalography (EEG) recording system, the lack of specifically designed equipment restricts the use of EEG in these environments.
  
  
  METHODS
  This paper describes the design and testing of a six-channel emergency EEG (emEEG) system with a rapid preparation time intended for use in emergency medicine and prehospital care. The novel system comprises a quick-application cap, a device for recording and transmitting the EEG wirelessly to a computer, and custom software for displaying and streaming the data in real-time to a hospital. Bench testing was conducted, as well as healthy volunteer and patient measurements in three different environments: a hospital EEG laboratory, an intensive care unit, and an ambulance. The EEG data was evaluated by two experienced clinical neurophysiologists and compared with recordings from a commercial system.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The bench tests demonstrated that the emEEG system's performance is comparable to that of a commercial system while the healthy volunteer and patient measurements confirmed that the system can be applied quickly and that it records quality EEG data in a variety of environments. Furthermore, the recorded data was judged to be of diagnostic quality by two experienced clinical neurophysiologists.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In the future, the emEEG system may be used to record high-quality EEG data in emergency medicine and during ambulance transportation. Its use could lead to a faster diagnostic, a more accurate treatment, and a shorter recovery time for patients with neurological brain disorders.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics and Communications Engineering, Tampere University of Technology, Korkeakoulunkatu 3, FI-33720 Tampere, Finland. andrei.jakab@ieee.org.
authors.forename: Andrei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jakab
authors.forename: Antti
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kulkas
authors.forename: Timo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Salpavaara
authors.forename: Pasi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kauppinen
authors.forename: Jarmo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Verho
authors.forename: Hannu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Heikkilä
authors.forename: Ville
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Jäntti
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000379:methods*; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D007753:Laboratories; D012984:Software; D013997:Time Factors; D059015:Wireless Technology / Q000295:instrumentation*