Feasibility of an Integrated Telemonitoring System for Home-Recorded EEG with Automated AI-Based EEG Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Self-recorded EEG by patients at home might present a viable alternative to inpatient epilepsy evaluations. OBJECTIVES AND METHODS: We developed a novel telemonitoring system comprising seamlessly integrated hard- and software with automated AI-based EEG analysis. RESULTS: The first complete study participation results demonstrate feasibility and clinical utility. CONCLUSION: Our telemonitoring solution potentially improves treatment of patients with epilepsy and moreover might help to better distribute resources in the healthcare system.

Idiopathic generalized epilepsies in the epilepsy monitoring unit: Systematic quantification of focal EEG and semiological signs.

OBJECTIVE: Focal seizure symptoms (FSS) and focal interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) are common in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs), but dedicated studies systematically quantifying them both are lacking. We used automatic IED detection and localization algorithms and correlated these EEG findings with clinical FSS for the first time in IGE patients. METHODS: 32 patients with IGEs undergoing long-term video EEG monitoring were systematically analyzed regarding focal vs. generalized IEDs using automatic IED detection and localization algorithms. Quantitative EEG findings were correlated with FSS. RESULTS: We observed FSS in 75% of patients, without significant differences between IGE subgroups. Mostly varying/shifting lateralizations of FSS across successive recorded seizures were seen. We detected a total of 81,949 IEDs, whereof 19,513 IEDs were focal (23.8%). Focal IEDs occurred in all patients (median 13% focal IEDs per patient, range 1.1 - 51.1%). Focal IED lateralization and localization predominance had no significant effect on FSS. CONCLUSIONS: All included patients with IGE showed focal IEDs and three-quarter had focal seizure symptoms irrespective of the specific IGE subgroup. Focal IED localization had no significant effect on lateralization and localization of FSS. SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings may facilitate diagnostic and treatment decisions in patients with suspected IGE and focal signs.

DICOM® integrated EEG data: A first clinical implementation of the new DICOM standard for neurophysiology data.

OBJECTIVE: Demonstrating a pilot implementation of the Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) neurophysiology standard published in 2020. METHODS: An automated workflow for converting EEG data from a proprietary vendor EEG format to standardized and interoperable DICOM format was developed and tested. RESULTS: Retrieval of proprietary EEG data, associated videos, annotations and metadata from the vendor EEG archive and their subsequent conversion to DICOM EEG was possible without changes to the departmental workflow. To transfer DICOM EEG data to the central radiology DICOM archive, only minor extensions in the parameterization of the archive's DICOM interfaces were necessary. Linkage with the electronic health record (EHR) and display in a DICOM EEG viewer could be demonstrated. A random sample of 88 DICOM EEG studies was compared to the original vendor files and EEG and video file sizes were comparable. CONCLUSIONS: Storing and reviewing EEG data in standardized DICOM format is feasible, facilitated by existing DICOM infrastructure, and therefore allows for vendor independent access to EEG data. SIGNIFICANCE: We report the first implementation of the DICOM neurophysiology standard, thus promoting standardization in the field of neurophysiology as well as data exchange and access to legacy recordings in an interoperable vendor independent format.

First Clinical Experiences with the New DICOM Neurophysiology Standard.

BACKGROUND: Exchange of EEG data among institutions is complicated due to vendor-specific proprietary EEG file formats. The DICOM standard, which has long been used for storage and exchange of imaging studies, was expanded to store neurophysiology data in 2020. OBJECTIVES: To implement DICOM as an interoperable and vendor-independent storage format for EEG recordings in the Clinic Hietzing. METHODS: A pilot implementation for automated conversion of EEG data from a proprietary to standardized DICOM format was developed. Additionally, EEG review based on a central DICOM archive in a DICOM EEG viewer (encevis by AIT) was implemented. RESULTS: More than 200 long-term video EEG recordings and over 3000 routine EEGs were archived to the central DICOM archive of the WIGEV. CONCLUSION: Using DICOM as a storage format for EEG data is feasible and leads to a substantial improvement of interoperability and facilitates data exchange between institutions.

Relational local electroencephalography representations for sleep scoring.

Computational sleep scoring from multimodal neurophysiological time-series (polysomnography PSG) has achieved impressive clinical success. Models that use only a single electroencephalographic (EEG) channel from PSG have not yet received the same clinical recognition, since they lack Rapid Eye Movement (REM) scoring quality. The question whether this lack can be remedied at all remains an important one. We conjecture that predominant Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models do not adequately represent distant REM EEG segments (termed epochs), since LSTMs compress these to a fixed-size vector from separate past and future sequences. To this end, we introduce the EEG representation model ENGELBERT (electroEncephaloGraphic Epoch Local Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformer). It jointly attends to multiple EEG epochs from both past and future. Compared to typical token sequences in language, for which attention models have originally been conceived, overnight EEG sequences easily span more than 1000 30 s epochs. Local attention on overlapping windows reduces the critical quadratic computational complexity to linear, enabling versatile sub-one-hour to all-day scoring. ENGELBERT is at least one order of magnitude smaller than established LSTM models and is easy to train from scratch in a single phase. It surpassed state-of-the-art macro F1-scores in 3 single-EEG sleep scoring experiments. REM F1-scores were pushed to at least 86%. ENGELBERT virtually closed the gap to PSG-based methods from 4-5 percentage points (pp) to less than 1 pp F1-score.

Seizure detection with deep neural networks for review of two-channel electroencephalogram.

Ultra-long-term electroencephalographic (EEG) registration using minimally invasive low-channel devices is an emerging technology to assess sporadic seizure events. Highly sensitive automatic seizure detection algorithms are needed for semiautomatic evaluation of these prolonged recordings. We describe the design and validation of a deep neural network for two-channel seizure detection. The model is trained using EEG recordings from 590 patients in a publicly available seizure database. These recordings are based on the full 10-20 electrode system and include seizure annotations created by reviews of the full set of EEG channels. Validation was performed using 48 scalp EEG recordings from an independent epilepsy center and consensus seizure annotations from three neurologists. For each patient, a three-electrode subgroup (two channels with a common reference) of the full montage was selected for validation of the two-channel model. Mean sensitivity across patients of 88.8% and false positive rate across patients of 12.9/day were achieved. The proposed training approach is of great practical relevance, because true recordings from low-channel devices are currently available only in small numbers, and the generation of gold standard seizure annotations in two EEG channels is often difficult. The study demonstrates that automatic seizure detection based on two-channel EEG data is feasible and review of ultra-long-term recordings can be made efficient and effective.

Deep learning for estimation of functional brain maturation from EEG of premature neonates.

EEG monitoring of early brain function and development in neonatal intensive care units may help to identify infants with high risk of serious neurological impairment and to assess brain maturation for evaluation of neurodevelopmental progress. Automated analysis of EEG data makes continuous evaluation of brain activity fast and accessible. A convolutional neural network (CNN) for regression of EEG maturational age of premature neonates from marginally preprocessed serial EEG recordings is proposed. The CNN was trained and validated using 141 EEG recordings from 43 preterm neonates born below 28 weeks of gestation with normal neurodevelop-mental outcome at 12 months of corrected age. The estimated functional brain maturation between the first and last EEG recording increased in each patient. On average over 96% of repeated measures within an infant had an increasing EEG maturational age according to the post menstrual age at EEG recording time. Our algorithm has potential to be deployed to support neonatologists for accurate estimation of functional brain maturity in premature neonates.

An artificial intelligence-based EEG algorithm for detection of epileptiform EEG discharges: Validation against the diagnostic gold standard.

OBJECTIVE: To validate an artificial intelligence-based computer algorithm for detection of epileptiform EEG discharges (EDs) and subsequent identification of patients with epilepsy. METHODS: We developed an algorithm for automatic detection of EDs, based on a novel deep learning method that requires a low amount of labeled EEG data for training. Detected EDs are automatically grouped into clusters, consisting of the same type of EDs, for rapid visual inspection. We validated the algorithm on an independent dataset of 100 patients with sharp transients in their EEG recordings (54 with epilepsy and 46 with non-epileptic paroxysmal events). The diagnostic gold standard was derived from the video-EEG recordings of the patients' habitual events. RESULTS: The algorithm had a sensitivity of 89% for identifying EEGs with EDs recorded from patients with epilepsy, a specificity of 70%, and an overall accuracy of 80%. CONCLUSIONS: Automated detection of EDs using an artificial intelligence-based computer algorithm had a high sensitivity. Human (expert) supervision is still necessary for confirming the clusters of detected EDs and for describing clinical correlations. Further studies on different patient populations will be needed to confirm our results. SIGNIFICANCE: The automated algorithm we describe here is a useful tool, assisting neurophysiologist in rapid assessment of EEG recordings.

Achieving an Interoperable Data Format for Neurophysiology with DICOM Waveforms.

Modern healthcare faces multiple challenges: diagnosis and treatment happens multidisciplinary and distributed. The key principle to accomplish this is interoperability. Some disciplines like radiology are well experienced in interoperable workflows and cross institution data exchange; other disciplines just realize the growing importance. In this paper we analyze the situation in neurology and give an overview of attempts made in the past to establish an interchangeable, interoperable data format for biomedical signal data, which would be suitable for neurology, too. Focusing on EEG data we will discuss how DICOM Waveforms could be used to cover many of the requirements. As a result necessary adaptions and remaining issues are identified. With DICOM Waveforms a specification is available that covers most of the interoperability requirements. With only little adjustments DICOM Waveforms could establish data interoperability in neurology.

Automatic System for Obstructive Sleep Apnea Events Detection Using Convolutional Neural Network.

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is characterized by repetitive episodes of airflow reduction (hypopnea) or cessation (apnea), which, as a prevalent sleep disorder, can cause people to stop breathing for 10 to 30 seconds at a time and lead to serious problems such as daytime fatigue, impaired memory, and depression. This work intends to explore automatic detection of OSA events with 1-second annotation based on blood oxygen saturation, oronasal airflow, and ribcage and abdomen movements. Deep Learning (DL) technology, specifically, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN), is employed as a feature detector to learn the characteristics of the highorder correlation among visible data and corresponding labels. A fully-connected layer in the last stage of the CNN is connected to the output layer and constructs the desired number of outputs for sleep apnea events classification. A leave-one-out cross-validation has been conducted on the PhysioNet Sleep Database provided by St. Vincents University Hospital and University College Dublin, and an average accuracy of $79 .61$% across normal, hypopnea, and apnea, classes is achieved.

Automated Long-Term EEG Review: Fast and Precise Analysis in Critical Care Patients.

Background: Ongoing or recurrent seizure activity without prominent motor features is a common burden in neurological critical care patients and people with epilepsy during ICU stays. Continuous EEG (CEEG) is the gold standard for detecting ongoing ictal EEG patterns and monitoring functional brain activity. However CEEG review is very demanding and time consuming. The purpose of the present multirater, EEG expert reviewer study, is to test and assess the clinical feasibility of an automatic EEG pattern detection method (Neurotrend). Methods: Four board certified EEG reviewers used Neurotrend to annotate 76 CEEG datasets à 6 h (in total 456 h of EEG) for rhythmic and periodic EEG patterns (RPP), unequivocal ictal EEG patterns and burst suppression. All reviewers had a predefined time limit of 5 min (± 2 min) per CEEG dataset and were compared to a predefined gold standard (conventional EEG review with unlimited time). Subanalysis of specific features of RPP was conducted as well. We used Gwet's AC1 and AC2 coefficients to calculate interrater agreement (IRA) and multirater agreement (MRA). Also, we determined individual performance measures for unequivocal ictal EEG patterns and burst suppression. Bonferroni-Holmes correction for multiple testing was applied to all statistical tests. Results: Mean review time was 3.3 min (± 1.9 min) per CEEG dataset. We found substantial IRA for unequivocal ictal EEG patterns (0.61-0.79; mean sensitivity 86.8%; mean specificity 82.2%, p < 0.001) and burst suppression (0.68-0.71; mean sensitivity 96.7%; mean specificity 76.9% p < 0.001). Two reviewers showed substantial IRA for RPP (0.68-0.72), whereas the other two showed moderate agreement (0.45-0.54), compared to the gold standard (p < 0.001). MRA showed almost perfect agreement for burst suppression (0.86) and moderate agreement for RPP (0.54) and unequivocal ictal EEG patterns (0.57). Conclusions: We demonstrated the clinical feasibility of an automatic critical care EEG pattern detection method on two levels: (1) reasonable high agreement compared to the gold standard, (2) reasonable short review times compared to previously reported EEG review times with conventional EEG analysis.

Early Epileptiform Discharges and Clinical Signs Predict Nonconvulsive Status Epilepticus on Continuous EEG.

BACKGROUND: Critical care continuous electroencephalography (CCEEG) represents the gold standard for detection of nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) in neurological critical care patients. It is unclear which findings on short-term routine EEG and which clinical parameters predict NCSE during subsequent CCEEG reliably. The aim of the present study was to assess the prognostic significance of changes within the first 30 min of EEG as well as of clinical parameters for the occurrence of NCSE during subsequent CCEEG. METHODS: Systematic analysis of the first 30 min and the remaining segments of prospective CCEEG recordings according to the ACNS Standardized Critical Care EEG Terminology and according to recently proposed NCSE criteria as well as review of clinical parameters of 85 consecutive neurological critical care patients. Logistic regression and binary classification tests were used to determine the most useful parameters within the first 30 min of EEG predicting subsequent NCSE. RESULTS: The presence of early sporadic epileptiform discharges (SED) and early rhythmic or periodic EEG patterns of "ictal-interictal uncertainty" (RPPIIIU) (OR 15.51, 95% CI 2.83-84.84, p = 0.002) and clinical signs of NCS (OR 18.43, 95% CI 2.06-164.62, p = 0.009) predicted NCSE on subsequent CCEEG. Various combinations of early SED, early RPPIIIU, and clinical signs of NCS showed sensitivities of 79-100%, specificities of 49-89%, and negative predictive values of 95-100% regarding the incidence of subsequent NCSE (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Early SED and early RPPIIIU within the first 30 min of EEG as well as clinical signs of NCS predict the occurrence of NCSE during subsequent CCEEG with high sensitivity and high negative predictive value and may be useful to select patients who should undergo CCEEG.

Automatic ictal onset source localization in presurgical epilepsy evaluation.

OBJECTIVE: To test the diagnostic accuracy of a new automatic algorithm for ictal onset source localization (IOSL) during routine presurgical epilepsy evaluation following STARD (Standards for Reporting of Diagnostic Accuracy) criteria. METHODS: We included 28 consecutive patients with refractory focal epilepsy (25 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and 3 with extratemporal epilepsy) who underwent resective epilepsy surgery. Ictal EEG patterns were analyzed with a novel automatic IOSL algorithm. IOSL source localizations on a sublobar level were validated by comparison with actual resection sites and seizure free outcome 2 years after surgery. RESULTS: Sensitivity of IOSL was 92.3% (TLE: 92.3%); specificity 60% (TLE: 50%); positive predictive value 66.7% (TLE: 66.7%); and negative predictive value 90% (TLE: 85.7%). The likelihood ratio was more than ten times higher for concordant IOSL results as compared to discordant results (p = 0.013). CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrated the clinical feasibility of our IOSL approach yielding reasonable high performance measures on a sublobar level. SIGNIFICANCE: Our IOSL method may contribute to a correct localization of the seizure onset zone in temporal lobe epilepsy and can readily be used in standard epilepsy monitoring settings. Further studies are needed for validation in extratemporal epilepsy.

Monitoring burst suppression in critically ill patients: Multi-centric evaluation of a novel method.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a computational method to detect and quantify burst suppression patterns (BSP) in the EEGs of critical care patients. A multi-center validation study was performed to assess the detection performance of the method. METHODS: The fully automatic method scans the EEG for discontinuous patterns and shows detected BSP and quantitative information on a trending display in real-time. The method is designed to work without setting any patient specific parameters and to be insensitive to EEG artifacts and periodic patterns. For validation a total of 3982 h of EEG from 88 patients were analyzed from three centers. Each EEG was annotated by two reviewers to assess the detection performance and the inter-rater agreement. RESULTS: Average inter-rater agreement between pairs of reviewers was κ=0.69. On average 22% of the review segments included BSP. An average sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 84% were measured on the consensus annotations of two reviewers. More than 95% of the periodic patterns in the EEGs were correctly suppressed. CONCLUSION: A fully automatic method to detect burst suppression patterns was assessed in a multi-center study. The method showed high sensitivity and specificity. SIGNIFICANCE: Clinically applicable burst suppression detection method validated in a large multi-center study.

Rhythmic and periodic EEG patterns of 'ictal-interictal uncertainty' in critically ill neurological patients.

OBJECTIVES: To study periodic and rhythmic EEG patterns classified according to Standardized Critical Care EEG Terminology (SCCET) of the American Clinical Neurophysiology Society and their relationship to electrographic seizures. METHODS: We classified 655 routine EEGs in 371 consecutive critically ill neurological patients into (1) normal EEGs or EEGs with non-specific abnormalities or interictal epileptiform discharges, (2) EEGs containing unequivocal ictal EEG patterns, and (3) EEGs showing rhythmic and periodic EEG patterns of 'ictal-interictal uncertainty' (RPPIIIU) according to SCCET. RESULTS: 313 patients (84.4%) showed normal EEGs, non-specific or interictal abnormalities, 14 patients (3.8%) had EEGs with at least one electrographic seizure, and 44 patients (11.8%) at least one EEG containing RPPIIIU, but no EEG with electrographic seizures. Electrographic seizures occurred in 11 of 55 patients (20%) with RPPIIIU, but only in 3 of 316 patients (0.9%) without RPPIIIU (p⩽0.001). Conversely, we observed RPPIIIU in 11 of 14 patients (78.6%) with electrographic seizures, but only in 44 of 357 patients (12.3%) without electrographic seizures (p⩽0.001). CONCLUSIONS: On routine-EEG in critically ill neurological patients RPPIIIU occur 3 times more frequently than electrographic seizures and are highly predictive for electrographic seizures. SIGNIFICANCE: RPPIIIU can serve as an indication for continuous EEG recordings.

Spatial correlation based artifact detection for automatic seizure detection in EEG.

Automatic EEG-processing systems such as seizure detection systems are more and more in use to cope with the large amount of data that arises from long-term EEG-monitorings. Since artifacts occur very often during the recordings and disturb the EEG-processing, it is crucial for these systems to have a good automatic artifact detection. We present a novel, computationally inexpensive automatic artifact detection system that uses the spatial distribution of the EEG-signal and the location of the electrodes to detect artifacts on electrodes. The algorithm was evaluated by including it into the automatic seizure detection system EpiScan and applying it to a very large amount of data including a large variety of EEGs and artifacts.

EpiScan: online seizure detection for epilepsy monitoring units.

An online seizure detection algorithm for long-term EEG monitoring is presented, which is based on a periodic waveform analysis detecting rhythmic EEG patterns and an adaptation module automatically adjusting the algorithm to patient-specific EEG properties. The algorithm was evaluated using 4.300 hours of unselected EEG recordings from 48 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. For 66% of the patients the algorithm detected 100% of the seizures. A mean sensitivity of 83% was achieved. An average of 7.2 false alarms within 24 hours for unselected EEG makes the algorithm attractive for epilepsy monitoring units.

Regression-based analysis of synchronization in multichannel EEG in epilepsy.

In this paper we assess a dependency measure for multivariate time series termed Extrinsic-to-Intrinsic-Power-Ratio (EIPR) using two different signal models. In a comparison with Partial Directed Coherence (PDC) we show that both measures correctly identify imposed couplings, but that limitations of the PDC do not affect EIPR. Moreover, EIPR is successfully used for the localization of the seizure onset zone in ECoG recordings from two epilepsy patients, given the exact seizure onset time. The electrodes identified by the proposed method are in excellent accordance with the clinical findings.