Topographic mapping of brain potentials in the newborn infant: the establishment of normal values and utility in assessing infants with neurological injury

Aim: To demonstrate that quantitative EEG (qEEG) can be used as a non-invas ive measure of brain injury by establishing normative data in term infants and contrasting it with other modalities of brain imaging. Design: qEEG dur ing quiet sleep was performed on 13 healthy full-term infants comprising a normal group and on 10 infants with neurological abnormalities identified o n brain imaging studies (abnormal group) at 36-47 wk postconceptional age. Quantitative analysis was performed and topographic map were produced for e ach patient. The EEG data from the normal group, after spectral analysis, y ielded power data in the delta, theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands and coherence information, which then formed the normative database. qEEC from the infants in the abnormal group was then compared to this normative data. Results: The normal group's mean absolute power in the delta, theta, alpha , and beta bands for all EEG leads combined were 278.48 +/- 83.83, 31.71 +/ - 10.12, 29.20 +/- 2.04, and 35.76 +/- 11.35 uv(2), respectively. The media n frequency was 1.49 +/- 0.07, 5.45 +/- 3.46, 9.74 +/- 5.11, and 18.01 +/- 3.38 Hz, respectively. The qEEG was abnormal in all 10 study infants, while abnormalities were noted in the clinical EEG in 4 of 10, in the neuroultra sound in 5 of 10, in the CT in one of 6, and in the MRI in 2 of 2 tested. Conclusions: qEEG appears to be a useful non-invasive method for measuring brain injury as it correlates well with other modalities of brain imaging a nd, if corroborated by further study, may, in fact, be more sensitive in de termining abnormalities in brain function.