Ambulatory diagnostic monitoring of seizures in children.

Considerable scope still exists for more accurate recognition of childhood seizures and the definition of their precise type. Careful clinical observation is generally the most appropriate way of achieving these objectives. However, in a proportion of patients even detailed clinical evaluation will leave this issue unclear. Intensive neurodiagnostic monitoring carries the advantage over conventional EEG recordings in generally increasing the likelihood of recording during the child's attacks. Special consideration has to be given to children in carrying out intensive monitoring, largely because of their limited understanding of investigatory procedures and lessened ability to cooperate compared with adults, including adjustment to hospital admission. Equipment design must acknowledge the smaller size of children and the fact that they are generally more active than adult patients. In order to help interpretation of the EEG findings, great reliance has to be placed on the observation by parents and other observers in achieving adequate behavioral accounts. The comparative acceptance by children of the different recording procedures and their relative diagnostic yield are difficult to evaluate objectively. No systematic comparison has been made on the same group of children undergoing the various procedures. Consequently, comparisons have to be made on different patient groups investigated in different centers where it is likely there will be differences in selection criteria for investigation as well as the details of the procedure followed. Video/EEG, telemetry, and cassette recording are best seen as complementary procedures from which a choice is made depending on the child's problem and circumstances and, in particular, whether admission to hospital for video or telemetry is possible or likely to provide the opportunity for studying the clinical phenomena in question. All are capable of high levels of technical merit and a high degree of diagnostic yield when used with appropriate indications. However, especially for EEG services outside special centers and without extra staff resources, it is likely that cassette recording in its 8-channel form has distinct advantages, both in terms of acceptability to children and of operating costs.