RESUMO
Background: Cerebral activity must be registered for prolonged periods in certain clinical situations that are not resolved with conventional electroencephalography. Aim: To report the experience with prolonged electroencephalographic and video monitoring at a Neurology Department, of a Military hospital in Santiago. Patients and methods: A retrospective analysis of patients referred for continuous electroencephalographic and video monitoring between 1991 and 1996. Three hundred thirty six patients, aged 3 months to 60 years old, were studied in the period and in 244, there was information about the diagnosis, treatment and evolution. Results: Monitoring was performed in an outpatient basis in 84 percent of subjects and lasted between 2 and 7 hours. One hundred ten patients were epileptics, 77 patients had a suspicion of epilepsy, 13 patients had possible pseudoseizures and 33 patients had miscellaneous diagnoses. In 154 patients, electroencephalographs recorded during wakefulness, somnolence and spontaneous dream, were normal. Intercritical recordings with epileptic activity were obtained in 76 patients and in 30 of these, critical epileptic activity was also recorded, not always associated to clinical manifestations. Unspecific electroencephalographic alterations were recorded in 14 patients. Conclusions: Prolonged electroencephalographic and video monitoring can be useful for patients with complex neurological problems