Electroencephalography (EEG): An Introductory Text and Atlas of Normal and Abnormal Findings in Adults, Children, and Infants

The first known neurophysiologic recordings of animals were performed by Richard Caton in 1875. The advent of recording the electrical activity of human beings took another half century to occur. Hans Berger, a German psychiatrist, pioneered the EEG in humans in 1924. The EEG is an electrophysiological technique for the recording of electrical activity arising from the human brain. Given its exquisite temporal sensitivity, the main utility of EEG is in the evaluation of dynamic cerebral functioning. EEG is particularly useful for evaluating patients with suspected seizures, epilepsy, and unusual spells. With certain exceptions, practically all patients with epilepsy will demonstrate characteristic EEG alterations during an epileptic seizure (ictal, or during-seizure, recordings). Most epilepsy patients also show characteristic interictal (or between-seizure) epileptiform discharges (IEDs) termed spike (<70 μsec duration), spike and wave, or sharp-wave (70–200 μsec duration) discharges.