The Diagnostic Utility of the Video EEG at a Tertiary Care Center of North India: A Retrospective Study

Objectives To study the diagnostic utility of video EEG recording in a tertiary care centre of North India Methods A retrospective analysis of 30 minutes of video EEG recording done between Jan 2021 to Jan 2022. The demographic and clinical data were collected from the EEG register. The children between 1-10 years of age were included. The age, gender, clinical diagnosis, number of antiseizure medicines (ASMs), activation procedures used, and EEG abnormality were recorded. Results The data of 100 children (male to female ratio of 1.9:1) were analysed. The mean age was 5.39±2.02). The indications for EEG recording were epileptic disorders, neurodevelopmental disorders, paroxysmal nonepileptic events and miscellaneous in 66%, 18%, 9% and 7% children respectively. The EEG abnormality was seen in 50 children (50%) and about 45% children were on two or more ASMs. The EEG abnormality in sleep was seen in 35/66(53%) children compared to awake record with activation procedures (hyperventilation and photic) in 23/34 (68%) children which was not statistically significant (p value 0.16) Conclusion The EEG abnormality was significantly higher in children with more than two ASMs, however there was no statistically significant difference in the EEG yield between sleep and awake record with activation procedures. Better selection of patients for routine EEG, through clinical history and associated conditions, is warranted to increase its yield.
Keywords: Diagnostic, Activation procedures, sleep, EEG