Noninvasive methods for evaluating the localization and propagation of epileptic activity

There are multiple approaches to analyzing the scalp EEG to obtain information on the intracerebral generators of epileptic activity. We review here a few of these methods, as they have been applied in various research projects carried out at the Montreal Neurological Institute. The areas covered include the validation of dipole models of epileptic spikes and of seizure discharges, the EEG microscope of Kobayashi, the analysis of rapid spread of epileptic seizures, and the recently developed method of combining EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging to obtain activation regions at the time of spikes.