EEG in Neurological Conditions Other than Epilepsy

Published 7/27/2023

When it comes to EEG monitoring, many associate its use with the diagnosis and treatment of patients with epilepsy. While epilepsy is one of the most common neurological disorders, affecting over 50 million people worldwide, there are several other neurological conditions that EEG monitoring services seek to diagnose and understand.

Beyond diagnosing seizures, EEG monitoring services have shown promise for assessing head injuries, characterizing sleep disorders, and even detecting brain tumors. As EEG technology and analysis techniques advance, this noninvasive test may gain broader use for evaluating brain function.

With further research, EEG monitoring could provide insights into neurological conditions like dementia, multiple sclerosis, and Parkinson's disease. This article will discuss EEG monitoring in neurological disorders other than epilepsy.

Brain Tumors

As a noninvasive tool, EEG monitoring services can help detect and monitor brain tumors. Tumors irritate surrounding brain tissue, triggering abnormal electrical discharges that an EEG captures. Specific EEG patterns may localize the tumor and distinguish malignant from benign tumors.

For example, focal slowing over one region often indicates a tumor, while diffuse slowing suggests a more aggressive cancer. EEG has the benefit of being widely available, inexpensive, and convenient for repeated scans to track tumor progression and response to treatment.

However, its spatial resolution is limited compared to MRI. Small or deep lesions may be missed on EEG. And abnormalities can have multiple causes besides tumors. So while EEG monitoring companies provide a supplementary screening tool, MRI remains the gold standard for definitively diagnosing brain tumors and pinpointing their location.

Brain Damage from Head Injury

Head injuries can cause wide-ranging "brain damage" from concussions to severe trauma. EEG is a critical tool for evaluating these injuries and monitoring recovery. Immediately after a head injury, EEG monitoring services can detect abnormalities like diffuse slowing or focal disruptions that localize damage.

EEG monitoring provides unique information about how the injury functionally impacts the brain's electrical activity in real-time compared to MRI. Repeated EEG testing allows clinicians to track the patient's progression, gauge the effectiveness of interventions, and predict outcomes.

EEG is more sensitive to detecting subtle dysfunction than imaging for mild injuries like concussions. The noninvasive nature and expert EEG monitoring service of EEG testing make it ideal for serial scans to ensure the brain's electrical rhythms normalize.

Encephalopathy

Encephalopathy is any diffuse brain disease that alters brain function or structure. The causes are diverse, ranging from liver failure and metabolic problems to infections and autoimmune diseases.

These disorders disrupt the brain's normal electrical rhythms, which EEG monitoring excels at detecting. In hepatic encephalopathy from liver failure, EEG shows generalized slowing reflecting dysfunction. EEG monitoring can also show characteristic rhythmic sharp waves for Wernicke encephalopathy from vitamin B1 deficiency.

With various toxic and metabolic encephalopathies, triphasic waves emerge on EEG. Autoimmune limbic encephalitis generates focal temporal lobe spikes. Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease produces typical pseudo-periodic bursts of delta waves.

EEG monitoring services also gauge encephalopathy severity and monitor the brain's real-time response to treatment. Unlike imaging, EEG provides a rapid functional assessment of brain activity across time in encephalopathies.

Sleep Disorders

Sleep disorders like insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy can be evaluated using EEG recordings taken during sleep. EEG monitoring companies measure brain wave patterns that reflect different sleep stages.

In insomnia, EEG shows reduced slow wave and REM sleep. Sleep apnea shows disrupted sleep architecture and loss of normal sleep patterns. Narcolepsy produces immediate REM sleep at onset rather than the usual progression through non-REM stages first.

REM sleep behavior disorder, where people physically act out dreams, shows unusually elevated muscle tone during REM. Periodic limb movement disorder features EEG spikes coupled with leg jerks.

EEG is a powerful tool for objectively identifying sleep disturbances, guiding treatment, and assessing response. A professional EEG monitoring service can streamline the process by monitoring brain activity overnight and providing insight into the underlying neurological dysfunction behind sleep disorders.

Stroke

When a stroke occurs, part of the brain loses blood flow and stops functioning properly. EEG can detect this disruption in brain activity and pinpoint which region is affected. As stroke damages brain tissue, EEG reveals slowed or absent electrical signals from the impacted area.

Loss of normal brain wave patterns signifies tissue death. EEG is useful for rapidly diagnosing ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, even before structural changes appear on CT or MRI. However, EEG has limited spatial resolution compared to imaging and cannot detect small or deep lesions.

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease is a rare, fatal brain disorder caused by prions. As prions accumulate in the brain, they damage tissue and disrupt normal electrical signaling. EEG can detect these abnormalities, revealing slowed brain waves and increased spike-and-wave complexes.

However, EEG findings in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease are nonspecific and must be interpreted in the clinical context. While EEG supports the diagnosis, especially when combined with MRI, definitive confirmation requires a brain biopsy.

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)

ALS is a neurodegenerative disease affecting motor neurons. As these neurons die, brain signaling becomes impaired, which EEG can detect. Typical EEG findings include slowed brain waves and increased sharp wave Activity, reflecting dysfunctional cortical circuits.

Keep in mind that these features are nonspecific. More distinctive patterns like frontal intermittent rhythmic delta activity support an ALS diagnosis but lack sensitivity. Overall, EEG provides limited diagnostic value in ALS.

While abnormalities may correlate with disease progression, EEG alone cannot reliably confirm ALS. Still, as a noninvasive tool, EEG can complement clinical and electrical evidence of motor neuron damage in diagnosing and monitoring ALS.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)

Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease that damages myelin in the central nervous system. MS patients exhibit slower brain waves than healthy controls, reflecting impaired cognitive processing.

EEG may show asymmetric activity between hemispheres and excessive slow wave bursts, indicating demyelination and cortical lesions. However, EEG has low specificity in MS. Similar patterns occur in other disorders.

It's crucial to note that EEG provides a window into functional abnormalities in MS. Changes may correlate with disease progression or response to therapy. So while limited, EEG remains a convenient supplemental tool for tracking MS outcomes and understanding the neural impact of myelin breakdown.

Neurotech: An EEG Monitoring Company

EEG monitoring has versatile clinical applications beyond epilepsy, from sleep disorders to strokes. Though limitations exist, EEG provides invaluable neurologic insights through noninvasive monitoring of brain activity.

Overall, advances in EEG technology and analysis will only expand its utility for understanding brain function in health and disease. Contact Neurotech today about leveraging our expert EEG monitoring services.