Continuous Electroencephalography Monitoring in Adults in the Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

This article is one of ten reviews selected from the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine 2018. Other selected articles can be found online at https://www.biomedcentral.com/collections/annualupdate2018 . Further information about the Annual Update in Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine is available from http://www.springer.com/series/8901 .

Fig. 1

Lateralized periodic discharges and generalized periodic discharges. An example of two periodic patterns: a temporo-parietal lateralized periodic discharges and b generalized periodic discharges. Continuous EEG recording is recommended in these cases

Fig. 2

Type of EEG electrodes. Examples of classic cup electrodes (a), subdermal needle electrodes (b), subdermal wire electrodes (c) and an EEG template system (d)

Fig. 3

EEG waveform frequency. Examples of traditional classification of alpha, beta, theta, delta EEG frequencies

Fig. 4

Color density spectral array. In this frequency(y) vs time(x) graph, each pixel shows the amplitude of EEG recording, according to its color (purple low, red high). The color range for the amplitude scale is shown on the left. Waveform frequency is displayed on the right. Phases of sudden reduction of faster frequencies during sedation can be easily recognized (arrows)

Fig. 5

Focal increase in EEG fast frequencies. In this raw EEG, fast frequencies in the left temporal region are shown. By DSA compression, these are easily observed as a sudden modification in the EEG recording (arrow). Topographic maps of spectral power are displayed on the right; they are spatial representations of the amplitude of traditional waveform frequencies (delta, theta, alpha), referred to the raw EEG displayed on the screen. Focal asymmetries can be easily identified. The color range of the amplitude scale is shown on the right