French recommendations on electroencephalography

Abstract

Electroencephalography allows the functional analysis of electrical brain cortical activity and is the gold standard for analyzing electrophysiological processes involved in epilepsy but also in several other dysfunctions of the central nervous system. Morphological imaging yields complementary data, yet it cannot replace the essential functional analysis tool that is EEG. Furthermore, EEG has the great advantage of being non-invasive, easy to perform and allows repeat testing when follow-up is necessary, even at the patient's bedside. Faced with advances in knowledge, techniques and indications, the Société de neurophysiologie clinique de langue française (SNCLF) and the Ligue française contre l'épilepsie (LFCE) found it necessary to provide an update on EEG recommendations. This article will review the methodology applied to this work, refine the various topics detailed in the following chapters. It will go over the summary of recommendations for each of these chapters and highlight proposals for writing an EEG report. Some questions could not be answered by review of the literature; in such cases, in addition to the guidelines the working and reading groups provided their expert opinion.

Keywords: Adult; Adulte; Ambulatory EEG; Brain death; Child; EEG ambulatoire; EEG après privation de sommeil; Electroencephalogram; Electroencephalography; Enfant; Epilepsy; Guidelines; High-resolution electroencephalogram; Intensive care unit; Magneto-encephalogram; Magnétoencéphalographie; Mort cérébrale; Neonatal care; Néonatalogie; Recommandations; Sleep-deprived EEG; Telemedicine; Télémédecine; Unité de soins intensifs; Video-EEG; Vidéo-EEG; Électroencéphalogramme; Électroencéphalogramme haute-résolution; Électroencéphalographie; Épilepsie.