Paperless electroencephalography.

Abstract

"Paperless EEG" incorporates a variety of techniques for recording, storing, reformatting, transmitting, and analyzing EEG records. The general advance in microelectronics has provided the EEG community with this collection of options. Many of these will come to be commonplace in the EEG laboratory of the future, and indeed some of these are making inroads into EEG practice. Storage of EEG may be the simplest area in which these tools can be used at present, and they may be cost-effective for many laboratories even now. Other features offer ways to improve the EEG product, including the ability to change the filters, paper speed, and montage after the recording has been made. In these ways, even reading of the traditional polygraph EEG can be enhanced by paperless tools. Some other tools are still under development or are best used at specialty centers. Methods of artifact removal, event detectors, and spike detectors still are not quite ready for routine use everywhere, but can now enhance EEG techniques in specific settings. As the field of EEG moves toward the 21st century, the impact of modern electronics should continue to encourage advances toward more widespread use of all of these tools. These advances should help to create an EEG that is cost-competitive with existing services while providing a qualitatively better product.