Delirium other diagnostic studies
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Delirium Microchapters |
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Diagnosis |
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Treatment |
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Delirium On the Web |
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American Roentgen Ray Society Images of Delirium |
Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Vishal Khurana, M.B.B.S., M.D. [2]; Pratik Bahekar, MBBS [3]
Overview
Other Diagnostic Studies
- EEG
- Lumbar Puncture
EEG
EEG shows diffuse slowing. EEG is useful to differentiate delirium from following conditions:
- Dementia
- Non‑convulsive status epilepticus and temporal lobe epilepsy
- Focal intracranial lesion, or it's a global abnormality.
As exact EEG changes in delirium are not yet identified, EEG is not used to diagnose delirium. Identification of the most informative electrode, and use of fewer electrodes will increase the usefulness of EEG in delirium. Continuous EEG monitoring has proven to be a feasible approach in the management of Epilepsy, therefore EEG beholds a great potential to improve detection rates of delirium. EEG changes in delirium are most prominent in the posterior regions. Delirium shows slowing of background activity, however, slowing of background activity is also observed in deep sleep and dementia. EEG recording of sleep shows K complexes and sleep-spindles whereas EEG recorded with eyes open (active EEG) in delirium have the relative power in the delta and the upper half of the alpha frequency band significantly different from dementia. These differences can be exploited to differentiate delirium from sleep and dementia. There are many practical limitations of EEG studies in delirium. The exact effects of drugs like haloperidol on EEG are unknown, this poses a problem to study EEG characteristics of delirium, as haloperidol is the most widely used medicines in the management of delirium. Also, because of the very fluctuating nature of delirium, many studies suffer from time gap between diagnosis of delirium and EEG recordings. Most studies have noticed difference in the relative power of the theta frequency in delirium and non-delirium patients. However, some studies have found this relative difference in theta frequency was restricted to the lower part and these studies failed to observe any difference in the higher part of the theta frequency. One study observed an increase in the relative power of the theta and a decline in the relative power of the alpha frequency band, but this phenomenon seen to be absent when Parkinson is a comorbid condition to delirium. More work needs to be done on the theta, alpha and delta waves as many studies have disputed given findings. Delirium can also be identified from non delirium states by the following characteristics, as delirium shows an increase in the relative power of the delta frequency band, a decreased in the peak frequency and significantly decreased bispectral index (BIS).[1]
Lumbar puncture
Routine LP does not provide any benefit in management of delirium. However,it's helpful in suspected meningitis, ie delirium with
- Meningism
- Headache and fever[2]