Video-EEG (in hospital)

Prolonged EEG: it is used in cases in which a routine EEG does not provide the necessary information to make a medical decision. It could go from a few hours to several days. Most of the prolonged EEG devices have an “event button” (a button that the patient is asked to press every time they feel something unusual) for the patient to mark when an episode occurs.  This way when the test is complete, the doctor will know what times to pay special attention when looking over the readings.
This test is indicated when:
The diagnosis of epilepsy is not clear (to diagnose epilepsy versus non-epileptic events)
The diagnosis of epilepsy is clear, but the specific type of epilepsy is not known
The patient is not responding to treatment
Epilepsy surgery is being considered
In-patient Video-EEG: it has all the advantages with the only disadvantage being that the patient has to be hospitalized during this test. It is the best possible test to understand the patient’s epilepsy. The patient undergoes a full study with video and EEG recording simultaneously and in a safe hospital environment.  Medications could be tapered off or even discontinued in the hospital under strict supervision. That may allow to obtain very important information that could help the diagnosis and future treatment of the patient. The duration of the hospital stay could vary from one to many days, depending on the questions that need to get answered.