The ILAE classification of seizures and the epilepsies_ Modification for seizures in the neonate. Position paper by the ILAE Task Force on Neonatal Seizures
Seizures are the most common neurological emergency in the neonatal period and in contrast to those in infancy and childhood, are often provoked seizures with an
acute cause and may be electrographic-only, and with increasing availability of prolonged bedside monitoring in the NICU, it is recognised that electrographic-only seizures without clinical correlate are prevalent, especially in critically ill neonates. This has led to the definition of neonatal seizures being reconsidered, with a focus now in the elctrograhic basis of the events, either with or without clinical signs.
The newly published LIAE position paper for Classification of seizures and epilepsies – Modifications for seizures in the Neonate, continues to recognise that Video EEG-Recording is the gold standard for diagnosis – However, many neonatal units have only limited or no access to EEG. Instead, many neonatologists use aEEG, which is a simplified bedside neurophysiology tool displaying one or more commonly two channels of EEG in a filtered and compressed manner. In situations when and where full EEG is not readily available, aEEG may be used with co-registration of raw channels, although its limitations are well recognized.
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