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Types

Our Approach to Electroencephalograms (EEGs)

An electroencephalogram (EEG) is a safe, effective test that records and measures your brain’s electrical activity. Our neurology specialists use EEG testing to diagnose, monitor, and plan treatment for seizures, brain tumors, head injuries, strokes, and other brain conditions.

Our skilled neurologists, neurosurgeons, and EEG technicians have advanced training and experience in the newest EEG technologies. Combining these leading-edge tools with our expertise in reading EEGs, we deliver detailed results that guide precise treatment planning for personalized care.

At ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½, we offer comprehensive EEG testing that explores all the possibilities to uncover the underlying causes of brain disorders.

What We Offer You for EEG Testing

  • Expert team of neurologists and EEG technicians with years of experience conducting and reading all types of EEGs to evaluate and diagnose a wide range of brain conditions.Ìý
  • The latest EEG technologies for assessing brain activity patterns, identifying changes, and mapping locations for epilepsy, tumors, brain injuries, and other disorders.
  • Inpatient intracranial video EEG in our Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) for intensive 24/7 monitoring and in-depth testing for people with drug-resistant epilepsy.Ìý
  • Comprehensive EEG testing in our Neurodiagnostic Labs, with short-term, long-term, sleep, and other types of EEG to diagnose and monitor neurological conditions.

What Is An Electroencephalogram?

Types of EEGs

The type of EEG you may need depends on the symptoms you’re experiencing. At ÌÇÐÄ´«Ã½, our EEG technicians, neurologists, and neurosurgeons have expertise in all types of EEG procedures, including:

Routine EEG
This type can take as little as 30 minutes. The technician may ask you to look at flashing lights or breathe quickly during the test.

Prolonged EEG
This test usually takes one to two hours, but it can last several days if your doctor needs more information about your brain waves. With a prolonged EEG, we usually use video to see and hear what happens during unusual brain activity.

Ambulatory EEG
With this type, you wear a small, portable device, connected to electrodes on your scalp, for one to three days. The device records your brain’s electrical activity as you go about your daily activities, either awake or asleep.

You or another person can press a button on the device if you have a seizure or other event that your doctor is trying to capture.ÌýAn ambulatory EEG provides more details about your brain activity during your daily life, and may avoid a diagnostic hospital admission.

Video EEG
Video EEG monitoring in our inpatient Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) to help us confirm a diagnosis, pinpoint the affected area of the brain to plan treatment options, and confirm the degree of seizure activity.

Sleep EEG
A technician performs an EEG while you sleep, usually over several hours. You may need a sleep EEG to provide more information than a routine EEG. Or you may have a sleep EEG during a sleep study to evaluate symptoms of a sleep disorder.

Inpatient intracranial EEG with video monitoring
Our neurosurgeons perform surgery to place electrodes in or on the surface of your brain. The electrodes may be grouped in a strip or grid, or placed on thin wire probes. With intracranial EEG, you stay in our inpatient epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) for a few days for video monitoring and in-depth testing.

Interpretation of the EEG
An EEG might be normal or it may reveal abnormalities suggestive of epilepsy or a condition that mimics epilepsy. The epilepsy patterns are divided into interictal, meaning between seizures, or ictal, meaning during a seizure. Interictal discharges last less than one-fifth of a second and are not perceived by the person having the EEG, but they commonly come from the region where seizures originate.

Video EEG monitoring attempts to capture the location of abnormal ictal discharges at the start of a seizure. Recording several seizures may be necessary to know whether a particular part of the brain is consistently the site of seizure origin. In rare cases, seizures deep in the brain may not be detected by EEG electrodes on the scalp. If a test fails to record spikes, seizures, or clinical events, it is inconclusive, because it cannot rule out seizures occurring at other times.

Make An Appointment

To schedule an appointment, please call 650-723-6469.