Background, epileptiform activity, slowing and common traps.
Review age, wakefulness, sleep, medication exposure, technical quality and montage. Assess background organisation, symmetry and reactivity before analysing individual transients. Correlate apparent abnormalities across channels and montages.
Assess morphology, duration relative to background, waveform asymmetry, an after-going slow wave, background disruption and a plausible physiological field. Use the IFCN framework as a structured aid rather than diagnosing from sharpness alone. Normal variants and artefact can be over-read.
Focal or generalised slowing may indicate dysfunction but is not itself an epileptiform discharge. Consider state, medication and clinical setting. Describe the finding and its limitations rather than converting it directly into an epilepsy diagnosis.
Interictal epileptiform activity is not a captured clinical seizure. Examine evolution, distribution, clinical correlation and recording context when evaluating a possible ictal pattern. A single schematic strip cannot establish status epilepticus or an epilepsy syndrome.
Document recording conditions, background, activation, interictal findings, captured events and limitations. Explain how findings support or fail to support the clinical hypothesis. When routine EEG is unrevealing and uncertainty persists, select further recording based on the unresolved question.
Original, simplified waveform drawings. These are conceptual illustrations, not real EEGs, validated diagnostic examples or a substitute for supervised EEG training. Channel labels are schematic and do not represent a clinical montage.
Inspect morphology and the field in a real multichannel recording. A sharp-looking transient alone does not establish an epileptiform discharge.
Review state, technical quality, montage, spatial distribution and clinical history before deciding whether a pattern is pathological.
A rhythmic spike-and-wave appearance may support a generalised epilepsy in the right clinical setting. Actual frequency, topography and clinical correlation must be assessed in the original EEG.
Review state, technical quality, montage, spatial distribution and clinical history before deciding whether a pattern is pathological.
Slowing is a description of frequency and can reflect many conditions. Decide whether it is appropriate for the patient’s state and age, focal or diffuse, and persistent or intermittent.
Review state, technical quality, montage, spatial distribution and clinical history before deciding whether a pattern is pathological.
Frontally predominant slow deflections may arise from blinking. Check eye channels, video and distribution before assigning cerebral significance.
Review state, technical quality, montage, spatial distribution and clinical history before deciding whether a pattern is pathological.
New practical questions checked 5 November 2026. Reading guides retain their own source dates. This online expansion is additional to the existing downloadable editions.
Review technical quality, montage, state, activation and background before interpreting individual transients. Account for artefact and normal variants. Use the recording context and referral question to guide the report.
No. Evaluate morphology, field, background disruption and other validated features in context. An isolated sharp transient or simplified teaching sketch cannot independently establish an epilepsy diagnosis.
Review age, wakefulness, sleep, medication exposure, technical quality and montage. Assess background organisation, symmetry and reactivity before analysing individual transients. Correlate apparent abnormalities across channels and montages.
Assess morphology, duration relative to background, waveform asymmetry, an after-going slow wave, background disruption and a plausible physiological field. Use the IFCN framework as a structured aid rather than diagnosing from sharpness alone. Normal variants and artefact can be over-read.
Focal or generalised slowing may indicate dysfunction but is not itself an epileptiform discharge. Consider state, medication and clinical setting. Describe the finding and its limitations rather than converting it directly into an epilepsy diagnosis.
Interictal epileptiform activity is not a captured clinical seizure. Examine evolution, distribution, clinical correlation and recording context when evaluating a possible ictal pattern. A single schematic strip cannot establish status epilepticus or an epilepsy syndrome.
Document recording conditions, background, activation, interictal findings, captured events and limitations. Explain how findings support or fail to support the clinical hypothesis. When routine EEG is unrevealing and uncertainty persists, select further recording based on the unresolved question.
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