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Chapter 22 - Focal Dysfunction (Lesions)

from Part III - Specific Conditions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2021

Neville M. Jadeja
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts Medical School
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Summary

The EEG is poorly sensitive and specific to detect lesions compared to neuroimaging; its practical use is to determine the functional consequence of the lesion. Focal dysfunction (physiologic) may occur without an associated neuroimaging abnormality. Postictal states and hypoperfusion are examples of physiologic dysfunction; these are often reversible (disappear on repeat testing). Focal dysfunction causes disruption of the background architecture (wakefulness and sleep), asymmetric responses on activation procedures, and focal slowing. Severity of the focal dysfunction may be estimated based on the abundance of slowing, attenuation of amplitude, loss of reactivity, and increase of slower frequencies. Sporadic, intermittent, or fluctuating focal slowing that is reactive to external stimulation or endogenous state changes (such as arousal) may indicate physiological dysfunction. Focal intermittent rhythmic (monomorphic) delta activity such as Lateralized rhythmic delta activity (LRDA) specifically indicates epileptogenicity. It should be treated like an epileptic discharge despite the lack of a sharpness. Look for epileptic discharges that may accompany focal slowing. Focal slowing may occur in isolation, bilaterally, or in the setting of diffuse cerebral dysfunction.

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Chapter
Information
How to Read an EEG , pp. 214 - 218
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

Noh, BH, Berg, AT, Nordli, DR Jr. Concordance of MRI lesions and EEG focal slowing in children with nonsyndromic epilepsy. Epilepsia. 2013 Mar;54(3):455–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Britton, JW, Frey, LC, Hopp, JL, et al. Electroencephalography (EEG): an introductory text and atlas of normal and abnormal findings in adults, children, and infants. American Epilepsy Society, Chicago; 2016.Google ScholarPubMed
Gaspard, N, Manganas, L, Rampal, N, Petroff, OA, Hirsch, LJ. Similarity of lateralized rhythmic delta activity to periodic lateralized epileptiform discharges in critically ill patients. JAMA Neurology. 2013 Oct 1;70(10):1288–95.Google ScholarPubMed

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