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Emergent EEG: indications and diagnostic yield
P N Varelas1, M V Spanaki, L Hacein-Bey
1Department of Neurology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, USA. pvarelas@mcw.edu
Neurology
|September 10, 2003
Abstract:
The authors reviewed the reports of all emergent EEG (EmEEG) performed in our hospital within 1 hour of the test being ordered over a period of 52 months. Two hundred sixty-one EmEEG (12.8% of all EEG) were performed. The most common reason to order the test was a change in mental status or coma (17.6%). Although EmEEG was ordered to rule out status epilepticus (SE) in 60.2% of cases, this diagnosis was made in only 10.7% of patients. The only independent predictor for SE was a history of cardiac or respiratory arrest (odds [95% CI], 6.8 [2.7 to 16.9]).