ROLE OF CONTINUOUS EEG MONITORING IN PEDIATRIC INTENSIVE CARE UNIT

Abstract

Objectives: Continuous electroencephalographic monitoring (CEEG) is frequently performed in tertiary care pediatric intensive care units (PICU) for wide variety of indications. There is little data regarding the usefulness of CEEG monitoring in critically ill pediatric patients. In this study we report the diagnostic utility of CEEG in patients requiring long-term monitoring (LTM). Methods: We retrospectively reviewed CEEG monitoring data of 96 patients admitted to a tertiary care PICU over a 4 year period (2000–2004). All patients had 16 Channel CEEG monitoring (XLTEK) utilizing the 10–20 system. Sixty-Eight patients had Video-EEG monitoring, and 28 patients had only EEG monitoring. Clinical histories were reviewed to determine indications for CEEG. CEEG findings were categorized into two major categories, a) epileptic and b) non-epileptic.