For the purpose of early diagnosis of cerebral palsy, electroencephalographic examination of 178 newborns and the follow up study of these infants for the period of at least six months or the longest for 4 years and 4 months were performed
From the results of these follow up observations we evaluated the significance of EEG of the newborns for detecting brain damage as well as predicting the prognosis.
1) It was found that all the 53 normal EEG group without any pre- or perinatal complication proved to be normally grown-up
2) The group with diffuse brain pathology (cerebral palsy and mental deficiency) all were found to have developed from the abnormal EEG group. In contrast, only 2 cases of epilepsy was found in the normal EEG group with pre- or perinatal complication.
3) As for the neonatal EEG patterns indicative of poor prognosis, the basic pattern showed flat pattern or diffuse slow wave dysrhythmia, and the sleep pattern revealed undifferentiated EEG and no trace alternant pattern.
4) The abnormal trace alternant pattern (i. e. bilateral independent, bilateral asynchronous, and isoelectric interburst) was deeply associated with diffuse brain damage.
5) Focal sharp waves were observed in 12 cases (6. 7 per cent) out of the 178 newborns. Seizure discharge seems to be of no value for evaluating the prognosis of diffuse brain pathology.
6) In our comparative studies on the relationship between mean visual evoked potentials and the prognosis we have been able to demonstrate that the peak latency delayed decidedly in the majority of abnormally grown up.
7) We have emphasized the importance of neonatal EEG findings to be included in the evaluation of at-risk baby in neonatal period.
