Computerized electroencephalography in the evaluation of early dementia.

In elderly patients presenting to an ambulatory practice with complaints of cognitive disturbance, early dementia must be differentiated from depression. The present paper describes the application of standard electroencephalography and evoked potential testing (EEG/EP) and computerized electroencephalography with evoked potential mapping (CEEG/EPM) in the analysis of 64 elderly patients complaining of cognitive disturbance. Although previous reports have claimed a sensitivity level of up to 80% for EEG in demented patients, it appears that a lower sensitivity (37% for EEG alone and 61% for EEG/EP) may be expected at the time of early presentation according to the present study. No EEG/EP abnormalities were detected in patients with depression. In demented patients, CEEG/EPM was abnormal in 85% (46 of 54) of cases compared to 10% (1 of 10) of cases with depression. Specific information was obtained from EEG/EP studies that helped differentiate the various causes of dementia in three cases. In CEEG/EPM studies, a pattern of relative suppression of alpha activity or suppressed auditory P300 amplitude in the posterior parietal regions was observed in 11 or 23 (48%) patients with Alzheimer's disease and 2 of 31 (6%) patients with other forms of dementia. None of the depressed patients demonstrated such changes. Based on the present study, it appears that computerized techniques may hold promise as an adjunct to standard EEG evaluation of patients with mild cognitive change in whom diagnosis of dementia or depression is in doubt. Although standard EEG rarely demonstrates characteristic changes that may help differentiate causes of dementia, CEEG/EPM appears to demonstrate, on occasion, abnormalities in the posterior temporal and parietal regions in patients with a diagnosis of probable Alzheimer's disease and rarely in other forms of dementia or depression.