MUTUAL INFORMATION ANALYSIS AND DETECTION OF INTERICTAL MORPHOLOGICALDIFFERENCES IN INTERICTAL EPILEPTIFORM DISCHARGES OF PATIENTS WITH PARTIAL EPILEPSIES

The purpose of this paper is to compare the morphological features of interictal epileptiform discharges (TED) in patients with benign epile psy of childhood with centrotemporal spikes to IED of those with sympt omatic localization related epilepsies using information theory. Three patients from each clinical group were selected. Two-second epochs ce ntered at the peak negativity of the sharp waves were analyzed from a referential montage during stage I sleep. The epochs from the two grou ps were compared using parametric and information theory analysis. Inf ormation analysis determined the likelihood of correctly identifying t he clinical group based on the TED. Standard parametric, morphological and spectral analyses were also performed. We found no significant di fference in the morphology of the sharp wave between the two groups. T he after-going slow wave contained the greatest information that separ ated the two groups. This result was supported by morphological and sp ectral differences in the after-going slow wave. Greater distinguishin g information is held in the after-going dow wave than the sharp wave for the identification of clinical groups. Information analysis may as sist in differentiating clinical syndromes from EEG signals. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd.