can a dr please help me with this??

Can someone please help me translate this into terms I can understand my doctor doesn't know what it means.

EEG results on my 2 year old son.


Findings

The drowsy background showed well organized posterior dominant activity (alpha rythm: 8hz) which was reactive to eye opening and closing. Frequent bursts of paroxysmal delta activity was seen in the right posterior quadrant in drowsiness and sleep. sleep spindles and vertex waves were normal. photic stimulation showed little occipital driving. no epileptiform activity was noted.

Impression

this eeg recorded in drowsiness and sleep is abnormal. The background is normal. There is excessive right posterior quadrant delta which is non-specific. Correlation with brain imaging may be of interest.

I don't know if this has something to do with it but he wakes up from his sleep screaming and says he is sore

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

I will try to put it in simpler terms.

Delta, alpha, sleep spindles are all brain waves. This is the way the EEG is described. Normally when you are awake, beta waves predominate. When you are lying with your eyes close, but are awake, alpha waves predominate, more so in the occipital region (back of the head).

But you need not know the details of the brain waves. The EEG does not show any seizure activity in the brain. The abnormality is that of the theta waves, which are more than expected. Theta waves are slow waves, which are normally found in sleep (in adults) and in children. But the excessive waves are specifically located in a particular area of the brain.

There could be some lesion in that area. Your son will need an MRI of the brain to rule out any localized brain lesion.

Can you mentions his symptoms ?

Regards

[stellex]

We had an mri and it was normal. is there something that they could be missing?? he also had a spinal tap but thoes results are still not in.  is there a test to look closer to see if there are any lesions??

[stellex]

sorry He has been having absant seizures and has in the last 4 month started to have grandmal seizures but no one seems to know why.  He also wakes up in his sleep screaming and it seems as though he is in pain but nothing can help him.  

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

There is a possibility of infection and / or increased pressure in the brain. There are a few other investigations which a step ahead of the MRI ( like the functional MRI, the PET scan ). These investigations can tell which part of the brain is not functioning well.

Was the MRI plain or with contrast ?

His screaming episode could be night terrors. The whole picture can become a bit clearer once you get the CSF reports.

When did the absence seizures start ?

Please keep me informed.

Regards

[stellex]

the Mri was plain no contrast. The abscence seizures started when he was 9 months and his first grand-mal was when he was about 1.

Can I get the functional MRI and the pet done in Canada or would it be worth my while to to take my son down to the usa and get the tests done??  I don't seem to be getting answers here. My neurologist hasn't seen this sort of eeg results before.