EEG in premature and full-term newborns. Maturation and glossary

Front the first publication of C. Dreyfirs-Brisac and N. Monod, a strong tr adition combined with tremendous development of neonatal EEG has taken plac e in France. After 3 years of collaborative collaborative work, 12 clinical neurophysiologists trained at the Port-Royal medical school in Paris detai l in this paper the currently available neonatal EEG recording techniques. They have synthesized the criteria of maturational state analysis and have defined the normal and pathological neonatal EEG patterns, including descri ptions already present in the French as well as the English literature. In this review one may find a complete description of neonatal. EEG pattern s according to the states of vigilance a,td to gestational age. Furthermore , definitions of all normal and pathological patterns are provided in a glo ssary. Both chapters are illustrated by numerous figures. This detailed terminology in neonatal EEG should allow, a better homogeneit y in EEG reports, and could lead to multicentric studies on normal, unusual or-pathological patterns, according to etiology Although based on analogic EEG data, this work can equally be applied to digitized EEG tracings. (C) 1999 Elsevier, Paris.