Video-audio/EEG monitoring in epilepsy--the Queen Elizabeth Hospital experience

Our experience of using video-audio/EEG monitoring in the diagnosis and management of epilepsy at The Queen Elizabeth Hospital Comprehensive Epilepsy Service from March 1987 to December 1990 is described. We performed 75 long term monitoring studies on a total of 66 patients. Following monitoring, a change in seizure diagnosis was made in 21 of 66 patients (32%). Pseudoseizures were diagnosed in 17 patients. A change in management as a consequence of monitoring occurred in 53 of the 66 patients (80%). The referring neurologists considered that 56 of the 75 studies (75%) were successful. The investigational technique is effective and is particularly useful for the diagnosis of pseudoseizures.