EEG

Injury	Disease	Nutrition	Poison

Symptoms	Surgery	Test	Special Topic

Brain

Brain wave monitor

Overview

Risks

Results

EEG

Alternative Names:

Electroencephalogram; Brain wave test

Normal Values:

Brain waves have normal frequency and amplitude, and other characteristics are typical.

What abnormal results mean:

Abnormal findings may indicate the following:

Seizure disorders (such as epilepsy or convulsions)
Structural brain abnormality (such as a brain tumor or brain abscess)
Head injury, encephalitis (inflammation of the brain)
Hemorrhage (abnormal bleeding caused by a ruptured blood vessel)
Cerebral infarct (tissue that is dead because of a blockage of the blood supply)
Sleep disorders (such as narcolepsy)

EEG may confirm brain death in someone who is in a coma.

Additional conditions under which the test may be performed:

Arteriovenous malformation (cerebral)
Benign positional vertigo
Cerebral aneurysm
Complicated alcohol abstinence (delirium tremens)
Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease
Delirium
Dementia
Dementia due to metabolic causes
Febrile seizure (children)
Generalized tonic-clonic seizure
Hepatic encephalopathy
Hepatorenal syndrome
Insomnia
Labyrinthitis
Meniere's disease
Metastatic brain tumor
Multiple sclerosis
Optic glioma
Partial (focal) seizure
Partial complex seizure
Petit mal seizure
Pick's disease
Senile dementia (Alzheimer's type)
Shy-Drager syndrome
Syphilitic aseptic meningitis
Temporal lobe seizure

Review Date: 8/16/2004
Reviewed By: Joseph V. Campellone, M.D., Division of Neurology, Cooper University Hospital, Camden, NJ. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.

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