Quantitative electrophysiological pattern of neurodegeneration in encephalopathies of various origin

Abstract

Electrophysiological characteristics of patients with encephalopathy of different etiology are presented. Pathogenic mechanisms affecting the electroencephalographic pattern and quantitative components of electroencephalogram are discussed. The aim of the study was to determine a universal quantitative electrophysiological criterion for the evaluation of neurodegenerative changes in the brain of patients with encephalopathy. We analyzed the data of anamnesis, neurological examination, laboratory tests and electroencephalograms from 389 patients with encephalopathy of post-traumatic, infectious, vascular and mixed etiology. Spectral analysis of electroencephalograms was performed and the values of relative quantitative electrophysiological criterion - the ratio of spectral power in the alpha/theta ranges at rest and during the test with hyperventilation were counted. The ratio of spectral power in the alpha/theta ranges was the lowest in patients of older age group and low - in patients with encephalopathy of infectious etiology. The ratio of the spectral power in the alpha-theta ranges in patients with post-traumatic encephalopathy was significantly different depending on the severity of the traumatic brain injury - mild or moderate/severe. We studied the possibilities of practical application of selected electrophysiological criterion - the ratio of spectral power of rhythms in the alpha-theta ranges. We counted this criterion in 150 patients with encephalopathy for the effectiveness evaluation of the neuroprotective therapy with сortexin. The chosen electrophysiological criterion had proved its effectiveness in therapy monitoring in patients with encephalopathy. In this article we demonstrated the advantages of additional neuroprotective therapy with сortexin. Increase in spectral power of alpha rhythm and decrease in spectral power of slow-wave components in the electroencephalographic pattern characterizes successful neuroprotective therapy with neuropeptides, such as сortexin.