Extraction of "deep" components from scalp EEG

In an attempt to delineate the relative contribution of surface versus deep components in the EEG of patients with 3 per second generalized spike-wave discharges and clinical petit mal seizures, a mathematical method was devised which allows the splitting of the EEG into two major subsystems. It is based on the observation that broad electrical fields tend to represent activity at deeper structures while discrete narrow fields centered at one electrode position tend to be of more superficial origin. Since source derivation intentionally suppresses broad potential fields, a differentiation between superficial and deep activity can be achieved by subtracting the source density values from the corresponding electrode potential values. This will provide those aspects of the EEG which are contributed mainly by deep generators. The resultant data can then be subjected to eigenfunction analysis which yields few uncorrelated components. The percentage of contribution of each electrode to the total component thus derived can then be displayed as a topographic map. When this methodology was applied to ictal EEGs of three patients consistent results were obtained. The "deep" data yielded mainly two components with mutually perpendicular directions.