Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology
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Emergent EEG (eEEG) is increasingly used in critical care practice related to neurological disorders although it involves considerable reorganization in the neurophysiology department at high cost. There is little data regarding the usefulness of eEEG in acute care situations. Our objective was to audit the practice and utility of eEEG in critical care practice in a developing country. ⋯ eEEG can provide useful information in selected clinical situations in neurological critical care. The service needs to be called upon judiciously in order to improve the efficacy of this service.
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Editorial Comment
Can vegetative state patients retain cortical processing?
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Involuntary orientation of attention to unattended deviant nociceptive stimuli is modulated by concomitant visual task difficulty. Evidence from laser evoked potentials.
Recent laser evoked potential (LEP) studies showed that unattended rare intensity-deviant nociceptive stimuli enhance the LEP vertex positivity P2 ('P400 effect'). It was hypothesized to reflect an involuntary switch of attention to nociceptive events. If true the P400 effect (1) should be produced when attention is focused on a task in another sensory modality (primary task), and (2) should be modulated by the primary task difficulty. ⋯ The study provides electrophysiological evidences for an intrusive capacity of pain to attract attention and to decrease behavioural performance in concurrent processes. In turn, such an attentional shift is tampered if attention is very engaged in a concomitant task.
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This article reviews the pathophysiology of mild traumatic brain injury, and the findings from EEG and quantitative EEG (QEEG) testing after such an injury. Research on the clinical presentation and pathophysiology of mild traumatic brain injury is reviewed with an emphasis on details that may pertain to EEG or QEEG and their interpretation. Research reports on EEG and QEEG in mild traumatic brain injury are reviewed in this setting, and conclusions are drawn about general diagnostic results that can be determined using these tests. ⋯ Complicating factors are reviewed for the proposed commercial uses of QEEG as a diagnostic test for brain injury after concussion or mild traumatic brain injury. The pathophysiology, clinical symptoms and electrophysiological features tend to clear over time after mild traumatic brain injury. There are no proven pathognomonic signatures useful for identifying head injury as the cause of signs and symptoms, especially late after the injury.
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To evaluate the immediate and long-term recovery processes of sleep and daytime vigilance in patients with sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) after continuous CPAP treatment. ⋯ The modifications of sleep patterns and the different adjustments of phase A subtypes allow us to monitor the reorganization of sleep in OSAS patients treated with CPAP and the hierarchy of the mechanisms involved in sleep regulation.