Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
EEG brain activity under sedation linked to seizures in dogs
By Utsugi, Shinichi et al.·Published in The Veterinary record·2020·Department of Small Animal Surgery (Neurology), Japan·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Relationship between interictal epileptiform discharges under medetomidine sedation and clinical seizures in canine idiopathic epilepsy.
- Species:
- dog
Plain-English summary
A group of dogs with idiopathic epilepsy underwent an EEG (a test that measures brain activity) while lightly sedated to see how it related to their seizure severity. The results showed that dogs with more severe seizures had a higher frequency of abnormal brain activity compared to those with less severe seizures and healthy dogs. This suggests that the EEG can be a useful tool for diagnosing epilepsy and understanding how severe the condition is in dogs. The dogs that did not show abnormal activity on the EEG had good long-term outcomes.
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Abstract
BACKGROUND: Electroencephalography (EEG) is required for the diagnosis of canine idiopathic epilepsy as a highest confidence level of diagnosis by the International Veterinary Epilepsy Task Force; however, EEG is seldom used and a standardised assessment method has not been reported. METHODS: Interictal EEG was performed under medetomidine sedation in dogs with idiopathic epilepsy and in control dogs. Epileptiform discharge (ED) frequency was compared between dogs with more severe and less severe seizures during one month before EEG and control dogs. RESULTS: All 10 dogs with more severe seizures had ED, as had 7 of 11 with less severe seizures. All epileptic dogs without ED had good long-term outcomes. ED frequency (number of ED per five minutes) was significantly higher in dogs with more severe (median, 4.5) than with less severe seizure (median, 0.46) and in the control dogs (median, 0.15). An ED frequency greater than 0.8 was considered to indicate epilepsy. CONCLUSION: Interictal EEG in a light sleep state under medetomidine sedation had a high detection rate of ED, and ED frequency had a positive correlation with the recent severity of epileptic seizures. This allows interictal EEG recordings to be used as a simplified and objective test that may help to diagnose epilepsy and to assess the recent severity of the disease in dogs.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31690640/