[The role of the EEG in epilepsy management]

Diagnosis of epilepsy is based upon clinical data. But the electroencephalogram (EEG) remains absolutely necessary for proper management of epileptic patients by the neurologist both in consultation and in hospital practice. Nevertheless, it is very important to keep in mind the actions limit of EEG, especially its sensitivity and specificity. In this paper, we will emphasize the value of EEG in epilepsy, its interest for the management of patients in consultation, the situations when the neurologist can use EEG-monitoring, and what it can bring to the emergency management of epileptic patients in hospital. We will thus see that, in each of these situations, EEG must be interpreted with full knowledge of clinical data.