Long-term video-EEG monitoring
Long-term video-EEG monitoring, also known as video telemetry, is a diagnostic technique used in certain patients with epilepsy or seizures. It involves the inpatient hospitalization of the patient for a period of time, typically days to weeks, during which they are continuously monitored and recorded with a video camera and an electroencephalograph.
The recording is periodically monitored and analyzed by a neurologist, typically one trained in clinical neurophysiology; the neurologist determines when the monitoring is finished and issues the final report.
The purposes of long-term video-EEG monitoring include:
- discovering where in the brain a given person's seizures begin
- distinguishing epileptic seizures from psychogenic non-epileptic seizures
- evaluating a person who is a candidate for surgery to treat epilepsy