This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Abnormal patterns

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Abnormal electroencephalogram wave patterns include:

  • theta 8-12 Hz in parietal and occipital regions
  • delta less than 4 Hz - any slow wave pattern suggests acute problems - any acute insult
  • epilepsy: paroxysmal sharp high-voltage waves, e.g. the spike and wave pattern at rate of 3Hz seen in petit mal
  • brain death is indicated by absence of activity in normothermic patients not exposed to sedative drugs
  • periodic complexes - seen in Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, subacute sclerosing panencephalitis, herpes simplex encephalitis and hepatic coma.
  • diffuse slowing of rhythms - seen in progressive multi - focal leukoencephalopathy

Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page