Application of aEEG in Severely Ill Patients

Critically ill patients are characterized by rapid onset and development of severity. Damage to the nervous system and other organs and metabolic abnormalities will eventually lead to brain dysfunction and even brain death. However, clinically, it is difficult for ICU doctors to judge the degree of brain damage based on clinical symptoms alone, and it is difficult to identify epileptic seizures with atypical clinical manifestations and clinical electrical seizures. Therefore, in critically ill patients, it is necessary to monitor changes in brain function and seizures in real time to allow timely and corresponding treatment to correct the occurrence of reversible brain damage. Early detection and correction of reversible brain injury, accurate and objective evaluation of brain function status, guidance of clinicians to formulate and adjust treatment plans, and minimization of the occurrence of complications are of great significance for improving the prognosis and quality of life in patients. As a supplement to conventional EEG, compared to traditional EEG, aEEG is being gradually applied in the NICU due to its more intuitive results, easy interpretation, simple operation, convenience, long range, and high-quality monitoring at the bedside. aEEG can simply and effectively monitor neuroelectrophysiological changes in neurocritically ill patients, dynamically reflecting the state of brain function and detecting brain function changes and convulsions or seizures in an early stage to guide treatment and predict prognosis in real time. This chapter briefly describes aEEG principles, parameter indicators, and monitoring requirements. At the same time, it introduces aEEG result analysis indicators, pattern classification, and diagnostic criteria to help readers quickly understand the basic knowledge of aEEG. This chapter focuses on the application of aEEG in the intensive care of children and adults in combination with the legend and provides a reference for the clinical evaluation of brain function and the prognosis of critically ill patients.