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Activation Procedures

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Clinical Electroencephalography

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Abstract

The majority of routine EEGs are requested for epilepsy diagnosis or for epilepsy management but, in these cases, EEGs are usually without epileptiform abnormalities. As a matter of fact, after first unprovoked epileptic seizures, 50–80% of patients have an EEG without epileptiform abnormalities. To increase the diagnostic sensitivity of standard EEG, some activation procedures are traditionally used, as they can enhance, or elicit, interictal or ictal epileptiform patterns.

The most common EEG activation procedures are represented by HyperVentilation (HV), Intermittent Photic Stimulation (IPS), sleep and sSleep dDeprivation (SD). These activation techniques, although consolidated in routine electroencephalography, still present some controversial aspects, both for the standardisation of their execution as well as for their pathophysiogenic mechanisms. Finally, we will also describe other methods of EEG activation performed less frequently, above all applicable for the evocation of reflex seizures.

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Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Dr. Patrizia Pulitano for her help in selecting and editing the EEG figures.

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  1. Department of Human Neurosciences, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Oriano Mecarelli

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    Oriano Mecarelli

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Mecarelli, O. (2019). Activation Procedures. In: Mecarelli, O. (eds) Clinical Electroencephalography. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04573-9_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04573-9_14

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