Necessity of EEG in High-Risk BRUE

INTRODUCTION: A brief resolved unexplained event (BRUE) is characterised sudden alterations in an infant’s breathing, color, tone, or responsiveness. The aim of this study was to evaluate the necessity of electroencephalography (EEG) in high-risk BRUE cases.
METHODS: Of 51 patients were cases were analysed retrospectively. All of the patients were younger than 1 month so considered as high-risk group. The gestational week, the age of the patient, the duration of the event, the conditions related to the event, whether or not any intervention needed, type of intervention if done, if the event was recurred, the number of recurrences, state of consciousness during the event, respiratory pattern, muscle tone, sleeping position, suspicion of trauma, use of medication for mother and baby, smoking exposure were evaluated in detail.
RESULTS: : The mean age of the patients was 15.74 ± 14.96 days, 31 (60.78%) were male and 20 (39.21%) were female. The mean gestational age was 37.64 ± 2.35 weeks. Neurological examination of the patients were evaluated as normal. EEG was performed in 36 (70.58%) of the 51 patients and only one patient had sharp waves in the left hemisphere central region. In 11 patients hospitalized with a preliminary diagnosis of BRUE, final diagnoses were found as congenital pyloric stenosis, dehydration, fetal myocarditis, patent ductus arteriosus, lower respiratory tract infection and gastroesophageal reflux.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: It would be more appropriate to plan the tests to be carried out by evaluating many factors such as recurrence of the event in the high-risk BRUE group, family history, and neurological examination findings. As a result, even in the high-risk group BRUE, it would be cost effective to acquire an EEG if only the clinical cues are strongly suggestive for the diagnosis of epilepsy.