Quantitative Electroencephalogram in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in Three Different Clinical Scenarios

Abstract

Although clinical judgement and sedation scales are primarily used in intensive care units (ICUs) to manage sedation, adjunctive data are needed to direct therapy with sedative and hypnotic agents to prevent side effects and long-term sequelae. In this report, we describe three cases where we used quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) data in a pediatric ICU (PICU); to manage these specific clinical situations and to identify the limitations of the qEEG data, two patients were admitted for post–cardiac arrest care and the third was admitted for status epilepticus. In post–cardiac arrest patients, qEEG was mainly used for monitoring depth of sedation and drug titration. Unnecessary use of high-drug doses was prevented, and monitoring also helped to guide clinical intervention for the management of seizure activity. In the patient with status epilepticus, qEEG data on burst suppression and depth of sedation were used. In this report, we describe three different cases where we used qEEG data in a PICU, to give insight on the use of data in specific clinical situations and to describe the limitations of the qEEG data monitoring system. This study was carried out in Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Sanlıurfa Training and Research Hospital, Sanlıurfa, Turkey. Received: 15 April 2021 Accepted: 22 June 2021 Publication Date: 24 August 2021 (online) © 2021. Thieme. All rights reserved. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany