Introduction The separation of the history from the examination is artificial because the latter starts with the first greeting and ends when the patient departs. Some physical findings may prompt further questioning; do not be concerned that your history taking…
Introduction If asked why they entered medicine, most doctors would say that they wish to relieve human suffering and disease. To achieve this aim for every patient, it is essential to understand what has gone wrong with normal human physiology…
Newborn EEG interpretation is considered a particularly challenging area. An understanding of the appearance of the normal newborn EEG was achieved considerably later than for EEGs of childhood and adulthood. In fact, before the 1960s, it was not generally accepted…
The term coma refers to a state in which a person is unaware of self and surroundings, even if stimulated from the outside. Between consciousness and deep coma, there is a continuum of possible levels of responsiveness and awareness. Encephalopathy…
This section deals with a group of waveforms that may mimic abnormal waves but have now been recognized as normal variants. By definition, a normal variant is not associated with disease, be it epilepsy or another abnormal state. A few…
There are many indications for EEG testing, but the most common reason that an EEG is obtained is to assist in the diagnosis of seizures and epilepsy. Although the history is still the cornerstone of the diagnostic process, in some…
An EEG is considered abnormal if it has findings known to be associated with a pathologic or disease state. As discussed in Chapter 8 , “The Structure and Philosophy of the EEG Report,” this distinction is designed to prevent the…
The essential purpose of recording and interpreting an EEG is to communicate information to the clinicians that will help guide the patient’s care. When patients are referred for EEG testing, the referring physician often does not have the opportunity to…
The use of filters in recording and displaying EEG data is an indispensable tool in producing interpretable EEG tracings. Without filters, many segments of EEG would be essentially unreadable. As we shall see in this chapter, the use of filters…
An artifact is a waveform in the EEG that is not of cerebral origin. Those new to the world of EEG interpretation are often surprised to learn that at least half the challenge of EEG reading consists of identifying artifacts…