ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY AS DIAGNOSTIC METHOD IN EPILEPTIC DOGS

The epilepsy is the most widespread chronic neurological disorders among animals, as well as among people. The diagnostic approach to epilepsy has always been challenging. In human medicine electroencephalography (EEG) is an important sensitive noninvasive diagnostic method which is used when examining patients with the history of cerebral paroxysms. There have already been a lot of investigations aimed to estimate the expediency of conducting EEG in dogs and elaborate the specific technique for this species. Nevertheless, to authors’ mind the amount of available information is not enough and feather investigations should be conducted. In this article results of short-lasting interictal electroencephalograms of epileptic dogs are represented and analyzed. Analysis of electroencephalogram was performed by visual detection of paroxysmal activity and quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) using fast Fourier transformation (FFT) to the frequency range of bands. According to obtained results paroxysmal activity during electroencephalography was registered in 62,5% of sick dogs whereas epileptiform activity was registered in 37,5% of them. These results demonstrate high specificity but low sensibility of electroencephalography used with diagnostic purpose in epileptic dogs. The analysis of electroencephalograms obtained during photostimulation evidences the absence of efficacy of this method in dogs.