EEG Monitoring in the Emergency Department

Massachusetts General Hospital10 enrolled

Overview

This study seeks to investigate whether drug effects in suspected overdose patients could be identified using the electroencephalogram (EEG). From previous work it is known that different classes of anesthetic drugs have specific "EEG signatures" related to the drug mechanisms. Many of the drugs of abuse that are frequently encountered in overdose patients are similar or identical to anesthetic drugs. The hypothesis for this study is that the EEG could be used to characterize the brain effects of intoxicants using EEG in the ED setting. Such monitoring could one day help clinicians and first responders at the point-of-care make more informed decisions to improve the care of overdose patients.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Enrollment

Conditions

Drug Overdose Substance Abuse Alcohol Abuse

Interventions

Observational EEG Monitoring

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * Adult patients aged 18 years and older who present to the ED with suspected use of a potential drug of abuse Exclusion Criteria: * Hemodynamic instability or other acute medical condition for which the primary treating team does not thing it would be appropriate or safe for the study staff to approach the patient * The patient has an overt head trauma or deformity of the face which would preclude application of the forehead EEG monitoring lead * The patient has dermatological issues or skin conditions on the forehead * The patient has known dementia and/or mental impairment * The patient is a prisoner * The patient is an employee or student at one of the study sites.

Outcomes

Primary Outcomes

Electroencephalogram (EEG)

Subject EEG activity following arrival to Emergency Department with suspected overdose, including EEG waveform, spectrum, spectrogram, and power in the slow (0.1-1 Hz), delta (1 to 4 Hz), theta (4 to 8 Hz), alpha (8 to 12 Hz), beta (12 to 25 Hz), and gamma (25 to 70 Hz) bands.

Time frame: 24 hours