Correlation between diffuse EEG abnormalities and cerebral atrophy in senile dementia.

Abstract

SYNOPSIS Thirty-five elderly patients were investigated because of clinical signs of dementia. The presence of diffuse cerebral atrophy, and its severity, were determined by the use of computed tomography (CT scan). All of the patients were also examined by electroencephalography (EEG), and the presence of diffuse abnormalities, especially diffuse slowing, was noted. Specifically, patients with normal or near-normal EEGs were compared with those with severe diffuse slowing. No correlation between the presence or severity of diffuse EEG abnormalities and the degree of cerebral atrophy as measured by CT scan was found. Though the EEG is clearly identifying physiological dysfunction of nerve cells in demented patients it does not appear to be a reliable tool for the prediction of diffuse cerebral atrophy in this population.Senile dementia in association with diffuse cerebral atrophy is one of the problems commonly encountered by the clinical neurologist. In numerous studies the EEG of demented individuals was found to undergo significant changes. However, few studies have been reported which attempt to correlate the degree ofcerebral atrophy with the severity of the EEG abnormalities in mentally deteriorating aging persons (MundyCastle et al., 1954;Weiner and Schuster, 1956;Busse and Wang, 1965;Muller and Kral, 1967).The present study was designed to explore the correlation between these two variables in order to assess whether the EEG might be a reliable tool for the detection of cerebral atrophy in the elderly demented patient. METHODSThirty-five patients over 59 years of age were among a larger group hospitalized on the basis of having clinical signs of dementia. Senile dementia was

Electroencephalography and computerised tomography in vascular and non-vascular dementia in old age.

“…In vascular dementia without large infarcts, the intellectual impairment is presumably caused by multiple small lacunar k X e 0 v infarcts (Hachinski et al, 1974); ventricular dilata-04 tion in this condition was described over 70 years a ago by Pierre Marie (Fisher, 1965). In non-vascular dementia, the degree of EEG abnormality and the degree of ventricular dilatation have both been shown to be related to the severity of mental impairment (McAdam and Robinson, 1957;), but :9 10, E 1 *S Xsuggestions that EEG changes are correlated with t z a * ventricular size as shown by pneumoencepha-lography (Trowbridge and Finley, 1942;Levin and Greenblatt, 1948;Lundervold et al, 1962) are not supported either by the present study (Table 3) or by Stefoski et al (1976). The fact that EEG changes reflect disordered cortical function rather than loss of cerebral substance makes the lack of any relationship between the two less surprising.…”

Quantitative Electroencephalography and Regional Cerebral Blood Flow: Discriminant Analysis between Alzheimer’s Patients and Healthy Controls

“…Sensitivity of conventional EEG in AD was reported to range from 77% [55] to 94% [56], but specificity was as low as 71% [56]. By qEEG, Visser et al [57] found a sensitivity of 64% and a specificity of 96% when mild EEG changes were not considered.…”

Qualitative electroencephalogram and its predictors in the diagnosis of stroke

“…An experimental study on male hypertensive rats showed profound brain atrophy at 12 weeks post-stroke, possibly attributed to increased apoptosis ( 30 ). Brain atrophy has been linked with EEG changes in dementia ( 31 ). Further evaluation of the underlying mechanisms may yield gender disparities in EEG alterations.…”