34. Guidelines and nomenclature in critical care continuous EEG monitoring

Abstract

Nomenclature is key to describing clearly the clinical events in a critical care continuous EEG recording. Uniform nomenclature facilitates multicenter studies. It allows clinicians to understand better the meaning of studies performed at another institution. Recent clearer nomenclature proposed definition of many terms, such as for rhythmic or periodic patterns, prevalence, frequency, duration, amplitude, symmetry, and other terms for critical care monitoring (Hirsch, J Clin Neurophys; 2013). A consensus guideline recommends continuous EEG recording (a) to identify nonconvulsive seizures, (b) to assess efficacy of therapy, (c) to identify ischemia in high-risk patients (d), to assess depth of coma or sedation, (e) and for prognosis after cardiac arrest (Herman, J Clin Neurophys; 2015). The consensus guideline also describes personnel qualifications, e.g. for interpreting physicians, technical specification for equipment, and how recordings should be acquired, reviewed and interpreted. These are meant to provide guidance for quality patient care services.