• Sarah M Sánchez, Daniel H Arndt, Jessica L Carpenter, Kevin E Chapman, Karen M Cornett, Dennis J Dlugos, William B Gallentine, Christopher C Giza, Joshua L Goldstein, Cecil D Hahn, Jason T Lerner, Tobias Loddenkemper, Joyce H Matsumoto, Kristin McBain, Kendall B Nash, Eric Payne, Iván Sánchez Fernández, Justine Shults, Korwyn Williams, Amy Yang, and Nicholas S Abend.
• Departments of Neurology and Pediatrics, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
• Epilepsia. 2013 Aug 1;54(8):1419-27.

PurposeSurvey data indicate that continuous electroencephalography (EEG) (CEEG) monitoring is used with increasing frequency to identify electrographic seizures in critically ill children, but studies of current CEEG practice have not been conducted. We aimed to describe the clinical utilization of CEEG in critically ill children at tertiary care hospitals with a particular focus on variables essential for designing feasible prospective multicenter studies evaluating the impact of electrographic seizures on outcome.MethodsEleven North American centers retrospectively enrolled 550 consecutive critically ill children who underwent CEEG. We collected data regarding subject characteristics, CEEG indications, and CEEG findings.Key FindingsCEEG indications were encephalopathy with possible seizures in 67% of subjects, event characterization in 38% of subjects, and management of refractory status epilepticus in 11% of subjects. CEEG was initiated outside routine work hours in 47% of subjects. CEEG duration was <12 h in 16%, 12-24 h in 34%, and >24 h in 48%. Substantial variability existed among sites in CEEG indications and neurologic diagnoses, yet within each acute neurologic diagnosis category a similar proportion of subjects at each site had electrographic seizures. Electrographic seizure characteristics including distribution and duration varied across sites and neurologic diagnoses.SignificanceThese data provide a systematic assessment of recent CEEG use in critically ill children and indicate variability in practice. The results suggest that multicenter studies are feasible if CEEG monitoring pathways can be standardized. However, the data also indicate that electrographic seizure variability must be considered when designing studies that address the impact of electrographic seizures on outcome.Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2013 International League Against Epilepsy.

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