The diagnostic yield of a 2-h versus a 30-min electroencephalogram for patients with altered mental status in neurological intensive care unit

Abstract

Abstract Background The continuous electroencephalogram (cEEG) monitoring is recommended for critical ill patients with altered mental status, The cEEG detects seizure activity and nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) more efficiently than routine electroencephalogram (rEEG). Yet, cEEG is not widely available in many neurological intensive care units (NICU) in limited resource countries. Ideal study duration, and whether cEEG is useful and cost-effective in terms of patient outcome compared to (rEEG), is still questions under research. The main objective in our study was the relative diagnostic yield of the 2 h, prolonged EEG recording, compared to the 30-min rEEG recording in the NICU. Results There was no significant diagnostic yield for the 2-h electroencephalogram (EEG) over the 30-min EEG for patient with altered mental status in the NICU. Being with altered mental state in an NICU carries a poor outcome, we found that death occurred in 68.9% of patients. Acute ischemic stroke is the most common cause of altered mental status in NICU by about 53.3% of patients. Less than half of the patients (42.2%) were receiving anti-seizure medications (ASM). Conclusions As long as the cEEG is not available in the NICU, the 30-min EEG has a good diagnostic yield and it is almost equivalent to the prolonged 2-h EEG, and if the EEG is recommended for a longer duration, we recommend a long-term EEG more than 2 h.