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ICU and Continuous EEG Monitoring Flashcards

6 cards from real EEG practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

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  1. Continuous EEG (cEEG) monitoring in the ICU is most commonly indicated to detect:

    Answer: Nonconvulsive seizures and nonconvulsive status epilepticus

    cEEG is the primary tool for identifying nonconvulsive seizures (NCS) and nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) in comatose or critically ill patients who cannot show motor signs.

  2. The American Clinical Neurophysiology Society (ACNS) standardized critical care EEG terminology defines a periodic discharge as a waveform recurring at a rate of at least:

    Answer: ≥1 Hz for ≥6 cycles

    ACNS 2021 criteria define periodic discharges as recurring ≥1 Hz with ≥6 consecutive cycles showing a consistent morphology.

  3. Lateralized periodic discharges (LPDs), formerly called PLEDs, are most often associated with:

    Answer: Acute hemispheric structural lesions such as stroke or herpes encephalitis

    LPDs typically reflect acute or subacute focal cortical injury and are a common finding in herpes simplex encephalitis and hemispheric stroke.

  4. Burst suppression on EEG in a critically ill patient is characterized by:

    Answer: Alternating bursts of high-amplitude mixed activity and periods of near-flat EEG

    Burst suppression consists of bursts of mixed-frequency, often high-amplitude activity alternating with periods of electrocerebral suppression (<10 µV), indicating severe cerebral dysfunction.

  5. In continuous EEG monitoring, a quantitative EEG (qEEG) compressed spectral array (CSA) is used primarily to:

    Answer: Summarize hours of raw EEG into a compressed visual trend to detect seizures or ischemia

    CSA and other qEEG displays compress long EEG recordings into time-frequency trends, allowing technologists and clinicians to rapidly identify seizure activity or ischemic changes over hours.

  6. Which ICU patient population has the highest risk of nonconvulsive seizures, justifying prompt cEEG monitoring?

    Answer: Patients with acute convulsive status epilepticus treated with benzodiazepines

    After convulsive status epilepticus is terminated with benzodiazepines, up to 48% of patients continue to have nonconvulsive seizures detectable only by EEG.