• Katsuhiro Kobayashi, Kosuke Yunoki, Kazumasa Zensho, Tomoyuki Akiyama, Makio Oka, and Harumi Yoshinaga.
• Department of Child Neurology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Okayama University Hospital, Okayama, Japan. Electronic address: k_koba@md.okayama-u.ac.jp.
• Brain Dev. 2015 May 1; 37 (5): 487-94.

ObjectiveAcute electroencephalogram (EEG) findings are important for diagnosing emergency patients with suspected neurological disorders, but they can be difficult for untrained medical staff to interpret. In this research, we will develop an emergency EEG trend figure that we hypothesize will be more easily understood by untrained staff compared with the raw original traces.MethodsFor each of several EEG patterns (wakefulness, sleep, seizure activity, and encephalopathy), trend figures incorporating information on both amplitude and frequency were built. The accuracy of untrained reviewers' interpretation was compared with that of the raw EEG trace interpretation.ResultsThe rate of correct answers was significantly higher in response to the EEG trend figures than to the raw traces showing wakefulness, sleep, and encephalopathy, but there was no difference when seizure activity patterns were viewed. The rates of misjudging normal or abnormal findings were significantly lower with the trend figures in the wakefulness pattern; in the other patterns, misjudgments were equally low for the trend figures and the raw traces.ConclusionEEG trend figures improved the accuracy with which untrained medical staff interpreted emergency EEGs. Emergency EEG figures that can be understood intuitively with minimal training might improve the accuracy of emergency EEG interpretation. However, additional studies are required to confirm these results because there may be many types of clinical EEGs that are difficult to interpret.Copyright © 2014 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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