MAPPE EEG NELLA SCLEROSI MULTIPLA

The incidence of electroencephalographic (EEG) abnormalities in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients, as reported in literature, varies from 20 to 50%. The recent development of EEG computerized analysis allows to increase the sensitivity of the EEG technique. In this study EEG mapping was performed in 48 clinically probable or definite MS patients and neurophysiological results were correlated with clinical, neuropsychological and brain Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging (NMRI). EEG mapping was abnormal in 40% of the cases: eleven patients showed increased Delta Relative Power (RP), 16 increased Theta RP, 13 decreased Alpha RP and 14 reduced median frequency. Brain NMRI detected areas of abnormal signal in all patients, while at least one neuropsychological test was abnormal in 25 patients (52%). Patients with abnormal EEG, if compared to the others, showed a lower memory (p <0.05) and higher demyelinating lesional scores (p <0.004), a more severe ventricular dilatation (p <0.05) and a more relevant corpus callosum atrophy (p <0.02).