Brain & development
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Brain & development · Mar 2001
Electroencephalographic changes and their regional differences during pediatric cardiovascular surgery with hypothermia.
Monitoring brain function by EEG is an important means of preventing cerebral insults in pediatric cardiovascular surgery. We studied intraoperative EEG changes and their regional differences associated with hypothermia and brain ischemia. The subjects of this study consisted of 13 children ranging in age from 4 months to 4 years and 6 months. ⋯ A decrease in slow waves was marked in the occipital head area, and a decrease in fast waves was prominent in the anterior head area. (4) Arterial hypotension caused transient EEG abnormalities. Of them, bilaterally synchronous rhythmic high voltage slow waves were remarkable and exhibited bifrontal or bicentral dominance. (5) The EEG changes induced by hypothermia were influenced not only by the rectal temperature itself, but also by the rate of change in rectal temperature, and we speculated that this phenomenon was a result of adaptation. In intraoperative EEG monitoring, these findings constitute the basis for early detection of a cerebral hypoxic-ischemic state during pediatric cardiovascular surgery.