Value of electroencephalographic monitoring in newborns with hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy treated with hypothermia

BACKGROUND The values of electroencephalography (EEG) in neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) during therapeutic hypothermia (TH) are still uncertain. AIMS The aim of this study is to detect EEG background, the prevalence of seizures during cooling, and to determine different EEG patterns that can predict brain injury in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). PATIENTS AND METHODS Thirty-nine newborns with HIE were subjected to TH. Continuous monitoring by video-EEG was carried out throughout cooling and during rewarming. MRI was done for all newborns after rewarming. The predictive value of EEG background for MRI brain injury was evaluated at 6-h intervals during cooling and rewarming. RESULTS At all-time intervals, normal EEG was associated with no or mild MRI brain injury. At the beginning of cooling, normal background was more predictive of a favorable MRI outcome than at later time points. After 24 h of monitoring, diffuse burst suppression and depressed patterns had the greatest prognostic value. In most patients, a discontinuous pattern was not associated with poor prognosis. Thirty-one percent developed electrical seizures, and 8% developed status epilepticus. Seizures were subclinical in 42%. There is a significant association between duration of seizure patterns detected on the EEG and severity of brain injury on MRI. CONCLUSIONS Continuous EEG monitoring in newborns with HIE under cooling has a prognostic value about early MRI brain injury and identifies electrographic seizures, approximately 50% of which are subclinical. Treatment of clinical and subclinical seizure results in a reduction of the total duration of seizure pattern supports the hypothesis that subclinical seizures should be treated.