The clinical application of QEEG: A pilot study of spectral and ERP deviant patterns in children in a special psychiatric unit: An exploratory multiple case report  

Abstract

This thesis is divided in two parts:

Part I provides an overview of the basic and clinical QEEG research fields, and is specifically aimed at addressing issues regarding the clinical application of QEEG in childhood disorders. Specific brain oscillations and event related potentials (ERP) have been found to reflect meaningful states, behaviors, and cognitive processes. Clinical studies on neuropsychiatric disorders have demonstrated differences in certain QEEG parameters in clinical populations compared to control groups, however, results have been inconsistent across studies. Studies searching for disorder-specific QEEG profiles in childhood disorders have demonstrated impressive classification accuracies in sorting patients from control groups. But the clinical application of QEEG metrics faces several issues, such as heterogeneity and comorbidity.

Part II presents a multiple case study of 14 children referred to a neuropsychiatric unit for observation. QEEG analysis was conducted for each individual and provided a wide range of EEG measures that were compared to a normative database. All deviances were analyzed in relation to reported symptoms and problems, and performance measures. Results revealed significant deviances in two or more QEEG parameters for all of the participants, and furthermore, certain problem areas were found to correlate with spectral deviances in the alpha- and theta-bands. A discussion of the results particularly in relation to issues regarding clinical application of QEEG is provided, and suggests that the heterogeneity in childhood disorders are reflected in heterogeneity in the electrophysiological patterns associated with different symptom complexes, and interpretations of deviances faces similar biases as traditional diagnostics.