[Electrical picture of the brain under increased respiration in children. Studies on the structure of hyperventilation and its value as a provocation method in clinical electroencephalography in a model of multivariate analysis using electronic data processing].
In clinical electroencephalography, hyperventilation is the most used method of activation. However, knowledge of the conditions of hyperventilation with regard to their effects on the EEG is so far rather undifferentiated. For this reason the effects of hyperventilation in 1109 children are examined in this paper based on clinical and electroencephalographic parameters of a data configuration with a large number of criteria and the results obtained are calculated with the aid of electronic data processing. The statistical methods of examination were frequency and significance investigations by chi 2 tests, multifactorial analysis of variance, multiple regression analysis of influencing quantities, and determination of the reliability of the quantitative method of evaluation. New knowledge on group-statistical validity was obtained with this multivariant analysis and it was thus possible to extend the value of hyperventilation as a method of provocation in clinical electroencephalography. The increase in knowledge is based in particular on the facts that the hyperventilation effects are practically independent of sex, they do not require the consideration of certain age related development modalities of the EEG, they are diagnostically significant as regards unspecific changes of the bioelectrical activity, and they make a differentiated consideration with reference to their strength necessary, which results in 4 types of forms of changing the EEG spectrum. In addition to this, a recurrence of EEG changes was observed after the HV effect proper had faded, and the term "Reprise" is suggested for this and its clinico-encephalographic importance discussed. It was also found that occipital maxima dominate and that changes in frequency and amplitude require separate consideration. The influence of respiratory rate, tidal volume minute volume, alveolar CO2 tension, blood sugar and body weight on the strength of the effect of hyperventilation is not very significant. Mean controlled hyperventilation has proved useful to standardise arbitrary hyperventilation; an improvement could be achieved at the most by norming the respiratory rate. It was possible to prove that the applied method of non-mechanical quantitative EEG analyses had a high degree of accuracy and is consequently suitable for scientific investigations.