Abstracts

To determine if QEEG-guided neurofeedback represents an effective way to eliminate seizures in medically intractable seizure patients., Twenty-five patients with medically intractable seizures had quantitative EEG (QEEG) analysis as part of their evaluation for neurofeedback remediation of epilepsy., The incidence of abnormalities was as follows:
[underline]Power Abnormality/Incidence (% of Patients)[/underline]
1 or more foci of excess absolute theta / 75 %
1 or more foci of excess relative theta / 33 1/3%
1 or more foci of deficient relative beta / 33 l/3 %
1 or more foci of deficient absolute delta / 25 %
1 or more foci of excess absolute alpha / 18 %
1 or more foci of deficient absolute alpha / 18 %
1 or more foci of excess absolute beta / 18 %
1 or more foci of excess relative beta / 18 %
1 or more foci of deficient absolute beta / 18 %
No foci were seen with decreased absolute beta, decreased relative theta, or decreased relative alpha.
[underline]Coherence Abnormality (1 or more)/Incidence (% or Patients)[/underline]
Decreased theta coherence / 75 %
Decreased beta coherence / 50%
Increased beta coherence / 50 %
Increased theta coherence / 50 %
Decreased alpha coherence / 42 %
Increased alpha coherence / 33 1/3 %
Decreased delta coherence/ 25 %
Increased delta coherence / 0 %
No coherence abnormalities / 16 2/3 %
All 25 patients experienced a cessation of their seizures with 17 [ndash] 82 sessions of neurofeedback. The average was 32 sessions. Power abnormalities were normalized first. Then, coherence abnormalities were normalized if there were coherence abnormalities. Four subjects experienced remission of seizures with power training alone. The other twenty-one patients required both power and coherence training to produce a remission of their seizures. Most patients had a combination of decreased and increased coherences in more than one frequency band. Only 8 of the 25 subjects had a clearcut spike focus. In four of those, there was focal slowing over the spike. In the other four, focal slowing was remote from the spike focus.
All 25 patients have been seizure-free for 2 [ndash] 10 years (average 4.4). 19 do not require an anticonvulsant to control their seizures. 6 require a single anticonvulsant to maintain the seizure-free state., QEEG-guided neurofeedback represents an effective way to eliminate seizures in medically intractable seizure patients. None of the subjects experienced any adverse effects. It appears that both power and coherence abnormalities must be normalized to achieve the seizure free state.,