EEG evaluation in children and adolescents with chronic headaches
L De Carlo1, B Cavaliere, C Arnaldi
1Paediatric Institute, Ferrara University, Italy. sco@dns.unife.it
Insights
Electroencephalography (EEG) is useful for diagnosing childhood headaches, especially migraine with aura during a seizure. Interictal EEGs are typically normal, offering limited diagnostic value for headache features.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Neurophysiology
Background:
- Recurrent headaches are a common reason for pediatric neurology referrals.
- The diagnostic utility of electroencephalography (EEG) in pediatric headache remains an area of investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the usefulness of EEG in diagnosing headache in children and adolescents.
- To determine the diagnostic value of ictal versus interictal EEG recordings in pediatric headache patients.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective review of 425 pediatric patients with recurrent headaches.
- Analysis of EEG recordings performed during ictal (40 patients) and interictal (412 patients) phases.
Main Results:
- EEG demonstrated transient abnormalities supportive of diagnosis, particularly in migraine with aura during the ictal phase.
- Interictal EEG recordings were predominantly normal or showed nonspecific abnormalities unrelated to headache features.
Conclusions:
- Ictal EEG is a valuable tool for diagnosing specific headache types, notably migraine with aura in pediatric patients.
- Interictal EEG has limited diagnostic value for characterizing headache in children and adolescents.
Unlabelled:
In order to establish the usefulness of EEGs for the diagnosis of headache in children and adolescents, we retrospectively reviewed the records of 425 patients referred to our Paediatric Neurology Service because of recurrent headache. EEG was recorded ictally in 40 patients and interictally in 412 subjects.
Conclusion:
Our results confirm that the EEG is a very helpful tool, particularly in migraine with aura during the ictal phase, because it shows transient abnormalities that may support the diagnosis of this form of headache. On the contrary the EEG performed during the interictal phase is most often normal or it shows aspecific abnormalities with no relationship with to features.
