Clinical neurophysiology with special reference to the electroencephalogram

Abstract

Summary In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many important discoveries in nervous system structure and function involved the electrical properties of nerve tissue. The application of these advances, as well as those in electronic amplification and recording, led to the discovery of the human electroencephalogram (EEG) by Hans Berger, a German psychiatrist. Originally received with skepticism, the EEG became a subject of intense interest, and after World War II, became a leading clinical and experimental tool in neurology. Today, it remains important especially in the study and treatment of epilepsy. Though the EEG has also given rise to more sophisticated applications, these remain based on Berger’s initial work, one of the great discoveries of medical history.

Epilepsy Surgery in 2019 : A Time to Change

“…Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) founded by Wilder Penfield became the center of these bold studies and practices. The invention of electroencephalography (EEG) by Hans Berger in 1924 greatly contributed to the understanding of epilepsy and heralded a new era of the objective diagnosis of epilepsy [32]. Through the decades that followed, EEG frequently combined with video recording of seizure semiology became part of standard presurgical evaluation [20].…”

Is Mu a Normal Rhythm?

“…When electroencephalography recording was first introduced [1,2] four basic rhythms were characterized through their specific temporal and topographical appearance: alpha, beta, delta and theta. Since then, each and every variation with respect to these four basic rhythms is conceived as "not normal" [3]. Years later, a new characteristic rhythm was described as a "an arch shaped rhythm, with a spiky shape (rhythm en arceau)", the mu rhythm (Figure 1).…”

Methods for noninvasive localization of focal epileptic activity with magnetoencephalography

“…The EEG evolved during the second part of the 20 th century and became a tool used to study several neurological diseases. However, with the appearance of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the technique lost strength in the neurologists' community, mainly because its poor spatial resolution (Zifkin and Avanzini, 2009). The technological advances of the last decades allowed to record and save larger amounts of EEG data, enhancing the spatial resolution of the technique by adding more electrodes and increasing the signal-to-noise ratio of the signals.…”