At my appt on Tuesday I was ordered an EEG and another neuro-psych eval for comparison. I have always thought of the EEG as a tool used to determine/measure seizure activity. I was curious why an EEG would be ordered. I believe Pastor Dan on a previous post has said he to had received an order for an EEG.
I did some searching and here is an article I found. I by no means am convinced my neuros have this much savvy but I can hope :)
Abstract Cognitive impairment is a frequent complication of multiple sclerosis (MS), generally reflecting subcortical dementia. In order to explore functional cortico-cortical connections in MS, we studied electroencephalogram (EEG) coherence in a group of 21 clinically defined MS patients. Patients also underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and neuropsychological examinations. Compared to unimpaired MS patients, cognitively involved patients had reduced short-distance and long-distance theta and alpha band coherencies. Anteroposterior and interhemispheric coherencies were significantly correlated with MRI lesion load immediately underlying cortex but not were exclusively associated with periventricular lesions. These data support the hypothesis that cognitive impairment in MS is mostly related to demyelination or axonal loss of cortico-cortical connections. In a second study, we evaluated the neurophysiological correlates of frontal lobe dysfunction. Frontal lobes are also involved in motor planning and execution. We evaluated the EEG movement-related potential (MRP) in MS patients with and without frontal neuropsychological deficits. Reaction times to the Stroop test, which evaluates frontal functions, and MRP components were delayed in both MS groups compared to normal subjects and in frontal compared to nonfrontal MS patients. These data suggest that frontal cognitive involvement in MS corresponds to abnormal bioelectrical activity also during simple motor tasks.
(1) Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, MS Centre Scientific Institute Ospedale San Raffaele, Via Olgettina 48, I-20132 Milano, Italy
(2) Department of Neurology, MS Centre Scientific Institute Ospedale San Raffaele, Milano, Italy
http://www.springerlink.com/content/u851438up35uh581/
If medhelp cuts the link just google EEG and MS, however this being an abstract, this is the total content. There are several more hits I am going to check out but I did find this interesting.