When the EEG procedure of the brain is prescribed in children

1 When the

is being conducted This procedure is assigned if the following indications are given:

1. Diagnosing the causes of seizures and seizures in the child due to pathologies in the brain.
2. EEG is performed for the preliminary evaluation of the treatment of a small patient from the early form of epilepsy, the selection of the necessary anticonvulsant drugs and the establishment of a dose for infants.
3. If the child has a blood circulation disorder in the brain or the appearance of trauma on the body, and possibly a tumor.
4. EEG helps to trace in the first years of the child's life the correct formation of the bioelectric potential of the brain and the growth of its activity.

2 Registration of cerebral impulses

EEG for small children and newborns is carried out in an outpatient setting. A small patient is placed in a small room, which is protected from penetration of light and sound waves. In it there is a couch or a table for swaddling a baby, a chair and a so-called electrode box - a recorder with electrodes and connecting wires.

The study of toddlers is usually carried out while they are on their mother's hands or on a changing table. First, a special hat is put on the child's head, which can look like a single helmet made of cloth or a grid of rubber bands. Under this cap, the physician manually has a number of electrodes, each of which is connected with a cable to the device called an encephalograph by means of a crocodile clip. This connection is always made through a special amplifier, which increases the level of signals coming from the brain. All equipment is reliably grounded. On the wires are very small currents, completely safe even for newborns, so the procedure is absolutely harmless. Before electrodes are applied to the child's head, they are moistened in water, a special physiological solution or coated with water-based gel.

There should be no air gaps between the electrodes and the skin of the baby's head. In order to remove the effect of sebum, which reduces the level of already weak brain signals, the skin under the electrode is wiped with cotton wool soaked in alcohol. On the ears of the baby with the help of soft clips are installed inactive electrode rods, soaked in water. The head of the child with EEG should not lean forward, as this can cause distortion of the data.

Usually, children are examined at a time when they are asleep during the day. To do this, choose the time between the two feedings. If the child does not sleep, the doctor suggests that the mother put him to sleep or just shake, so he calms down. Studies are carried out at a time when the baby moves little. If necessary, the doctor can re-put on the cap with electrodes on the baby or simply adjust the electrodes.

3 Preparatory measures for the diagnosis of

On the eve it is necessary to bathe the child well so that his head is clean.

The duration of the examination is approximately 1/3 of an hour. It is better that at this time the baby sleeps. Therefore, it is desirable that the time of the EEG procedure and the sleep of the small patient coincide.

If the child does not sleep, then it must be fed right before the examination - usually after that the kids fall asleep, and this allows you to conduct an EEG.Mom should take with her a favorite pacifier - an infant's dummy and a bottle of milk or water, if the small patient is on artificial feeds.

If the mother is breastfeeding, then before EEG, you can put the milk in a bottle and take it with you, although you can not do this.

Because of the usual activity of toddlers between the ages of one and three years during their wakefulness, it is usually difficult to conduct a study. Therefore, it is necessary to agree with the doctor the time of the EEG procedure so that the baby was calm, did not want to eat.

If the child is older, you can take a toy for him so that during the procedure he is busy playing.

The examination itself lasts from 15 to 20 minutes. It would be better if the child would sit on his mother's lap. Initially, a record is made of the so-called "background" curve, and then the EEG is made under different conditions. If required, the recording can be lengthy.

According to the standard protocol, first a test is done with eye opening, then a three-minute hyperventilation. After this, stimulation is carried out with frequencies of two and ten hertz. This trial examination is done for all patients, regardless of the diagnosis. If required, the stimulation is performed at a frequency of up to twenty hertz, and in some cases the doctor may ask to squeeze the child's fingers into a fist, apply various stimuli in the form of sounds or give the baby a medicine. If the child is older than 2 years, then psychological tests are used.

The doctor asks the kid to close and open his eyes. The duration of the check is 3 seconds, and the intervals between the checks are 5-10.This checks the inertness of excitation or inhibition of processes in the brain.

When a hyperventilation test is used, the child should breathe deep, but rare, inhalations for three minutes. In toddlers who are more than 3 years old, this procedure is carried out in the form of a game. Such a check reveals hidden forms of epilepsy, various inflammations on the meninges, tumors, dysfunction, stress, possible overwork.

Rhythmic light stimulation is performed using a light bulb that makes short flashes in a certain rhythm. The patient's eyes are closed at this time, but he still fixes the light signals. On the EEG at this time there are marks that coincide in frequency with the rhythm of flashes. This checks the correctness of the brain development in the baby. A delay in speech or psychomotor functions can be determined, a tendency to epilepsy is revealed.

It is necessary to know that the EEG with signs of epileptic activity is normal for a child up to a year is an age-related physiological norm.

In special cases, samples are taken in a darkened room for 40 minutes. Studies can be conducted in violation of normal sleep in a patient - they last for several hours. Sometimes there is a need for joint electrocardiographic monitoring and night sleep.

4 Computer hardware

At the beginning of the development of this method all the data in the form of curves were recorded on paper tapes, and the doctor made a conclusion on the basis of visual review of the results. But then the methods of qualitative evaluation of data with the help of methods of mathematical analysis were introduced into physiology.

This became possible after the introduction of digital computers into medical practice. To date, both methods are used by doctors in parallel. All data is still recorded on paper tapes, but at the same time they are fixed on optical disks of the computer.

This allows you to conduct spectral analyzes of the EEG obtained, view any recording area at any time in the form of an enlarged curve, perform EEG analysis on the amplitude and frequency. The computer sorts out the results and presents them to the doctor in the form of graphs, curves, diagrams, etc.

5 Decoding of the results of

In most modern medical institutions, the results are given to the parents of the child on the second day after the EEG procedure. A copy of the doctor's report remains in the dispensary itself - it is fixed on the patient's card.

If this examination was performed in a hospital, the protocols will be filed in the patient's medical history. At discharge to the parents of the child will be given documents with full EEG results and treatment( if it was necessary).

In order for doctors to follow the dynamics of the disease, it is necessary to provide them with the results of previous EEG tests if it reveals the pathology of the baby - this will make it possible to determine the changes that have occurred in the child's brain.

You need to know that the brain system of any baby is constantly evolving, so the EEG is constantly changing in accordance with the increase in age.

Therefore, the final conclusion based on all the data obtained( EEG, laboratory studies of basic and additional parameters, conclusions of physicians of different specialties) can only be done by a neurologist who, after observing the child, will make adequate conclusions about his condition, collecting and analyzing all the work datacentral nervous system of a small patient.

If after a survey and consultation with a doctor, parents are unclear, it is better to seek medical advice. The very conduct of an electroencephalographic examination of a young child is considered an absolutely safe way of detecting pathology. This technique has no contraindications and is recommended for carrying out a study of brain function in children of any age, from newborns to adolescents.