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Review
. 2017 Jan-Mar;11(1):3-5.
doi: 10.1590/1980-57642016dn11-010002.

Traumatic brain injury: An EEG point of view

Jéssica Natuline Ianof  1 , Renato Anghinah  1
Affiliations
Review

Traumatic brain injury: An EEG point of view

Jéssica Natuline Ianof et al. Dement Neuropsychol. 2017 Jan-Mar.

Abstract
in English, Portuguese

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a silent epidemic. Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) causes brain injury that results in electrophysiologic abnormalities visible on electroencephalography (EEG) recordings. The purpose of this brief review was to discuss the importance of EEG findings in traumatic brain injury. Relevant articles published during the 1996-2016 period were retrieved from Medline (PubMed). The keywords were in English and included "traumatic brain injury", "EEG" and "quantitative EEG". We found 460 articles, analyzed 52 and selected 13 articles. EEG after TBI shows slowing of the posterior dominant rhythm and increased diffuse theta slowing, which may revert to normal within hours or may clear more slowly over many weeks. There are no clear EEG or quantitative EEG (qEEG) features unique to mild traumatic brain injury. Although the literature indicates the promise of qEEG in reaching a diagnosis and indicating prognosis of mTBI, further study is needed to corroborate and refine these methods.

O trauma cranioencefálico (TCE) é uma epidemia silenciosa. O trauma cranioencefálico leve causa uma lesão cerebral que resulta em anormalidades eletrofisiológicas visíveis nos registros eletroencefalográficos (EEG). O intuito dessa revisão curta foi discutir a importância dos achados eletroencefalográficos no trauma cranioencefálico. Os artigos relevantes publicados durante o período 1996-2016 foram selecionados do Medline (PubMed). As palavras-chave estavam em inglês e incluíam "traumatic brain injury", "EEG" e "quantitative EEG". Foram encontrados 460 artigos, analisados 52 e selecionados 13 artigos. O EEG após o TCE mostra lentificação do ritmo posterior dominante e aumento difuso da atividade lenta teta, o que pode ser revertido dentro de horas ou semanas. Não há características únicas no EEG ou EEG quantitativo (EEGq) de pacientes com TCE leve. Apesar da literatura indicar que no futuro o EEGq será uma ferramenta para diagnosticar e estabelecer um prognóstico para o TCE, mais estudos são necessários para corroborar e refinar esses métodos.

Keywords: EEG; mild traumatic brain injury; quantitative EEG; traumatic brain injury.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

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