Quantitative EEG analysis in children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy

Clinical assessment and imaging studies of twenty-six children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy (HCP) were conducted. For each child 20 artifact-free EEG epochs, each of 2 s duration were selected for spectral analysis to calculate spectral power and coherence functions. A fast Fourier transformation alogorithm of signal processing was used to obtain the power spectrum of each lead. The objective of this study was to estimate EEG spectral power as well as the interhemispheric (ICoh) and intrahemispheric (Hcoh) coherence in children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy (HCP) as compared with healthy children. Significant differences between the HCP and control children were noted in the distribution of the alpha, theta and delta rhythms over the left and right hemispheres. In this study we found significant differences between the HCP and control children in the distribution of alpha, theta, delta and beta rhythm over the left and right hemispheres. Significant differences between the HCP and control children were in the distribution of the theta rhythm over the right and left hemispheres. The lower ICoh at the temporal, parietal and occipital derivations in the alpha band implies hypoconnectivity between the right and left hemispheres. The HCoh asymmetry, which implies relative hypoconnectivity within the right and left hemispheres, suggests the functional hemispheric differentiation may be diminished in comparison with the controls.