Tag Archive for: EEG

Douglas Postels and other clinicians in Malawi

Think tank improves care for Malawian children with seizures, epilepsy

  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
  • Scenes from Dr. Postels' trip to Malawi
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Global health leaders from Children’s National Hospital joined Malawian clinical experts in a two-day think tank to improve the care of children with seizures in the southern African nation. Details were published recently in a perspective in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

“The meeting was eye-opening,” said Douglas Postels, M.D., a pediatric neurologist and faculty member with the Center for Translational Research at Children’s National. “Outcomes are changed when we collaborate directly and work through the best solutions for clinical care in low-resource settings. You must weigh what clinics need, what they can implement, and the impact on public health.”

The big picture

Dr. Postels does research and provides clinical care at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital (QECH), the largest public hospital in Malawi. “Queen’s” is the only medical setting in a country of over 20 million people where an electroencephalogram (EEG) and specialty pediatric neurology services are available. QECH is an essential — and often overtaxed — component of neurological care in Malawi. Cerebral malaria, epilepsy and seizures from birth asphyxia drive the need for neurological evaluations.

EEG is available at QECH for all hospitalized children and is principally used to evaluate for subclinical seizures in those who are comatose. One of three trained technicians acquires the EEG, which is electronically sent to the United States for interpretation. Under best-case scenarios, the turnaround time between EEG collection and interpretation from a neurologist in the U.S. is about two hours. However, many obstacles can slow results, including misaligned schedules across time zones, internet outages and other complications.

With the support of the Center for Translational Research, Dr. Postels brought five U.S.-based colleagues to Africa to meet with Malawian clinicians to better understand local clinical care needs.  A think tank of U.S. and Malawian clinicians worked together to consider research directions and priorities for neurology care and EEG services.  Their conversation focused extensively on integrating technology in the places where it will be most clinically useful.

The fine print

Dr. Postels’ research group aims to aid in the clinical care of Malawian children with epilepsy and to make EEG accessible outside of Queen’s hospital. They hope to eventually create a point-of-care EEG system, linking a method of EEG acquisition that requires little training to apply with a software-based interpretation system.

Expanding the use of EEG in Malawi and throughout Africa has numerous clinical applications. Malawian clinicians hoped that EEG could be made available at their local hospitals and folded into a more comprehensive care algorithm for children at risk of seizures — “one aspect of a ‘packet of care’ that included better overall understanding of seizures, criteria for administration of antiseizure medications, and transfer to the central hospital,” according to the journal article.

Malawian clinicians were also interested in using EEG to detect increased intracranial pressure after head trauma, as neuroimaging services are nearly as rare as EEG in Malawi.  One pediatrician also wanted to use EEG to guide the treatment of neonatal seizures, which are common in children with birth asphyxia, and to use EEG as a prognostic biomarker.

“We hope to empower Malawian clinicians with clinical research skills and experiences so that they can lead and direct future discussions with patients, parents and stakeholders to advance neurologic care and research in their country,” Dr. Postels and his team wrote.

To dive deeper, read the complete perspective — “Establishing Priorities for Epilepsy Care and Electroencephalogram Use in Low-Resource Settings” — in the American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

illustration of neural network

Tailored care for children with autism improves EEG experience

illustration of neural network

Most children with a developmental disability can complete EEG with sufficient support.

Electroencephalographic (EEG) monitoring is an important tool for diagnosing seizures, epilepsy and other neurologic conditions. However, many children with developmental disabilities – including autism – have difficulty undergoing hospital tests like EEG. Furthermore, sometimes these tests are not prescribed or turn out to be unsuccessful.

In a new study published in Journal of Child Neurology, findings from a Children’s National Hospital team indicate that most children with a developmental disability can complete EEG with sufficient support. Special planning can identify children who would benefit from accommodations to help them complete the study successfully.

What this means

Children with developmental disabilities have an increased risk of epilepsy and need for overnight video EEG monitoring. However, video EEGs have historically been considered difficult to complete for this population. Experts at Children’s National implemented a coordinated team approach to help children with developmental disability tolerate overnight video EEGs. The project involved a caregiver preprocedure questionnaire shared with the team to create personalized care plans.

These findings suggested that most children with developmental disability can complete video EEG with sufficient support. Preprocedure planning can identify children who would benefit from additional accommodations.

Moving the field forward

The findings show new knowledge through vigorous research about the patient experience and the value of a team dedicated to helping children with development disabilities undergo hospital tests.

“We were excited to find that with special planning more children with developmental disabilities could complete an EEG,” said Elizabeth Wells, M.D., senior vice president at the Center for Neuroscience and Behavioral Medicine at Children’s National, and one of the study’s authors. “We thought it was important to study and discover that children from minority or underrepresented groups were less likely to access support services, which means more work and research is necessary to ensure that services are accessible to these children.”

The authors also found that parent-reported difficulties with communication and cooperation were associated with video EEG success, which means doctors and hospital teams should always ask about and listen to parent input in planning the tests for children.

How Children’s National is leading the way

Healthcare workers often express lack of confidence in their ability to provide care for patients with autism and associated disabilities and express an interest in gaining access to resources and training to better care.

By developing a program to improve care and then studying it through rigorous research, the authors aspire to spread a message of hope. Programs like these can ensure all kids get the tests and care they need. Children’s National is also a leader in showing the importance of parent input in medical care planning, which too often is not a routine part of care at hospitals.

Further research is necessary to clarify which supports are most helpful.

Three prior students who trained at Children’s National are lead authors, Kalyn Nix, Jessica Smith and Atara Siegel, Ph.D. Additional authors from Children’s National include Kathleen Atmore, Psy.D., and Elizabeth Wells, M.D.

You can read the full study, Individualized Care Delivery for Children With Autism and Related Disabilities Undergoing Overnight Video Electroencephalography (EEG): One Hospital’s Experience With a Coordinated Team Approach, in the Journal of Child Neurology.

newborn

Predicting risk for infantile spasms after acute symptomatic neonatal seizures

newborn

Infantile spasms (IS) is a severe epilepsy in early childhood. Early treatment of IS provides the best chance of seizure remission and favorable developmental outcome.

Taeun Chang, M.D., director of the Neonatal Neurology and Neurocritical Care Program at Children’s National Hospital, participated in a study with other national pediatric experts which aimed to develop a prediction rule to accurately predict which neonates with acute symptomatic seizures will develop IS.

The group of researchers found that multiple potential predictors were associated with IS, including Apgar scores, EEG features, seizure characteristics, MRI abnormalities and clinical status at hospital discharge. The final model born from this work included three risk factors: (a) severely abnormal EEG or ≥3 days with seizures recorded on EEG, (b) deep gray or brainstem injury on MRI and (c) abnormal tone on discharge exam.

The significance of these findings is that IS risk after acute symptomatic neonatal seizures can be stratified using commonly available clinical data. No child without risk factors, vs >50% of those with all three factors, developed IS. This risk prediction rule may be valuable for clinical counseling as well as for selecting participants for clinical trials to prevent post‐neonatal epilepsy. This tailored approach may lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment and improve outcomes for a devastating early life epilepsy.

Read the full study in Epilepsia.

EEG with electrical activity of abnormal brain

Speckle tracking echo reveals possible biomarker for SUDEP risk

EEG with electrical activity of abnormal brain

A study published in the journal Epilepsia used speckle tracking echocardiography to detect subtle changes in heart function found in pediatric patients with refractory epilepsy when compared to controls. Children with refractory epilepsy had impaired systolic ventricular strain compared to controls, not correlated to epilepsy history. These differences in ventricular function may be a biomarker that can indicate someone with epilepsy is at higher risk for Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP).

Speckle tracking echocardiography is a non-invasive technique where software automatically identifies and tracks individual “speckles” of the myocardial wall on a routine echocardiogram in order to directly quantify the extent of contraction.

The study’s first authors, John Schreiber, M.D., medical director of Electroencephalography (EEG) and director of the Epilepsy Genetics program, and Lowell Frank, M.D., advanced imaging cardiologist and director of the Cardiology Fellowship Training program, both at Children’s National Hospital, answered some questions about the study findings.

Why is this important work?

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) is a rare but devastating consequence of epilepsy. Some of the proposed mechanisms of SUDEP implicate brain stem, cardiac and respiratory pathways.

This study identified alterations in ventricular function that may serve as one potential biomarker for SUDEP risk that can be evaluated non-invasively and regularly.

How will this work benefit patients?

Identification of children or adults with markedly impaired ventricular strain or diastolic function may provide the opportunity to implement a targeted treatment or monitoring strategy to prevent SUDEP.

What did you find that excites you? What are you hoping to discover?

These differences in cardiac strain were true for all patients with refractory epilepsy as a whole, not one particular group. This suggests that refractory convulsive epilepsy itself, rather than other patient-specific factors, produces these changes. Thanks in part to a grant from the Dravet Syndrome Foundation, the team is currently examining a cohort of patients with epilepsy due to pathogenic variants in sodium channel genes, SCN1A and SCN8A, to determine if these patients have greater degrees of impaired cardiac strain. SCN1A and SCN8A are also expressed in the heart, and patients have a considerably higher risk of SUDEP. It will be particularly exciting to examine for differences in specific genetic epilepsies.

How is this work unique?

Strain has been evaluated in many disease states in adult and pediatric populations and may be more sensitive to early myocardial damage than traditional measures of systolic and diastolic function. Children’s National Hospital has been an innovator in using speckle tracking echocardiography and similar techniques to evaluate subtle changes in heart function. This study is a great example of collaboration between The Comprehensive Pediatric Epilepsy Program and the Children’s National Heart Institute that is driving innovative research at Children’s National Hospital.

Autonomic nervous system appears to function well regardless of mode of childbirth

Late in pregnancy, the human body carefully prepares fetuses for the rigors of life outside the protection of the womb. Levels of cortisol, a stress hormone, ramp up and spike during labor. Catecholamines, another stress hormone, also rise at birth, helping to kick start the necessary functions that the baby will need to regulate breathing, heartbeat, blood pressure and energy metabolism levels at delivery. Oxytocin surges, promoting contractions for the mother during labor and stimulating milk production after the infant is born.

These processes also can play a role in preparing the fetal brain during the transition to life outside the womb by readying the autonomic nervous system and adapting its cerebral connections. The autonomic nervous system acts like the body’s autopilot, taking in information it needs to ensure that internal organs run steadily without willful action, such as ensuring the heart beats and eyelids blink at steady intervals. Its yin, the sympathetic division, stimulates body processes while its yang, the parasympathetic division, inhibits them.

Infants born preterm have reduced autonomic function compared with their full-term peers and also face possible serious neurodevelopmental impairment later in life. But is there a difference in autonomic nervous system function for full-term babies after undergoing labor compared with infants delivered via cesarean section (C-section)?

A team from the Children’s National Inova Collaborative Research Program (CNICA) – a research collaboration between Children’s National in Washington, D.C., and Inova Women’s and Children’s Hospital in Virginia – set out to answer that question in a paper published online July 30, 2019, in Scientific Reports.

They enrolled newborns who had experienced normal, full-term pregnancies and recorded their brain function and heart performance when they were about 2 days old. Infants whose conditions were fragile enough to require observation in the neonatal intensive care unit were excluded from the study. Of 167 infants recruited for the prospective cohort study, 118 newborns had sufficiently robust data to include them in the research.  Of these newborns:

  • 62 (52.5%) were born by vaginal delivery
  • 22 (18.6%) started out with vaginal delivery but ultimately switched to C-section based on failure to progress, failed labor induction or fetal intolerance to labor
  • And 34 (28.8%) were born by elective C-section.

The CNICA research team swaddled infants for comfort and slipped electrode nets over their tiny heads to simultaneously measure heart rate variability and electrocortical function through non-invasive techniques. The team hypothesized that infants who had been exposed to labor would have enhanced autonomic tone and higher cortical electroencephalogram (EEG) power than babies born via C-section.

“In a low-risk group of babies born full-term, the autonomic nervous system and cortical systems appear to function well regardless of whether infants were exposed to labor prior to birth,” says Sarah B. Mulkey, M.D., Ph.D., a fetal–neonatal neurologist in the Division of Fetal and Transitional Medicine at Children’s National and the study’s lead author.

However, infants born by C-section following a period of labor had significantly increased accelerations in their heart rates. And the infants born by C-section during labor had significantly lower relative gamma frequency EEG at 25.2 hours old compared with the other two groups studied.

“Together these findings point to a possible increased stress response and arousal difference in infants who started with vaginal delivery and finished delivery with C-section,” Dr. Mulkey says. “There is so little published research about the neurologic impacts of the mode of delivery, so our work helps to provide a normal reference point for future studies looking at high-risk infants, including babies born preterm.”

Because the research team saw little differences in autonomic tone or other EEG frequencies when the infants were 1 day old, future research will explore these measures at different points in the newborns’ early life as well as the role of the sleep-wake cycle on heart rate variability.

In addition to Dr. Mulkey, study co-authors include Srinivas Kota, Ph.D., Rathinaswamy B. Govindan, Ph.D., Tareq Al-Shargabi, MSc, Christopher B. Swisher, BS, Laura Hitchings, BScM, Stephanie Russo, BS, Nicole Herrera, MPH, Robert McCarter, ScD, and Senior Author Adré  J. du Plessis, M.B.Ch.B., MPH, all of Children’s National; and Augustine Eze Jr., MS, G. Larry Maxwell, M.D., and Robin Baker, M.D., all of Inova Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Financial support for research described in this post was provided by the National Institutes of Health National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences under award numbers UL1TR001876 and KL2TR001877.