Korean J Clin Neurophysiol.  2014 Jun;16(1):15-20. 10.14253/kjcn.2014.16.1.15.

Significance of Triphasic Waves in Metabolic Encephalopathy

• Park KM
• Shin KJ
• Ha SY
• Park J
• Kim SE
• Kim HC
• Kim SE

• KMID: 1708886
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.14253/kjcn.2014.16.1.15

Abstract

BACKGROUND
Triphasic waves are one of the electroencephalographic patterns that can be usually seen in metabolic encephalopathy. The aim of this study is to compare the clinical and electrophysiologic profiles between patients with and without triphasic waves in metabolic encephalopathy, and reassess the significance of triphasic waves in metabolic encephalopathy.
METHODS
We recruited 127 patients with metabolic encephalopathy, who were admitted to our hospital. We divided these admitted patients into two groups; those with and without triphasic waves. We analyzed the difference of duration of hospitalization, mortality rate during admission, Glasgow Coma Scale, severity of electroencephalographic alteration, and presence of acute symptomatic seizures between these two groups.
RESULTS
Of the 127 patients with metabolic encephalopathy, we excluded 67 patients who did not have EEG, and 60 patients finally met the inclusion criteria for this study. Patients with triphasic waves had more severe electroencephalographic alterations, lower Glasgow Coma Scale, and more acute symptomatic seizures than those without triphasic waves. After adjusting the clinical variables, Glasgow Coma Scale and acute symptomatic seizures were only significantly different between patients with and without triphasic waves.
CONCLUSIONS
We demonstrated that patients with triphasic waves in metabolic encephalopathy had more significant impairment of the brain function.

Keyword

Metabolism; Encephalopathy; Seizure; Electroencephaography; Triphasic waves

MeSH Terms

Brain
Brain Diseases, Metabolic*
Electroencephalography
Glasgow Coma Scale
Hospitalization
Humans
Metabolism
Mortality
Seizures

Figure

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  Figure 1. An electroencephalography of the 85-year-old woman with acute renal failure shows bilateral synchronous, frontally dominant runs with waveforms of phase: negative, positive, negative, and fronto-occipital lag.

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