Efficacy of Scalp Electroencephalography (EEG) as a Supportive Diagnostic Tool in Canine Epilepsy using Dexmedetomidine

Abstract

The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the electroencephalography (EEG) patterns between healthy and epileptic dogs, to analyze the diagnostic value of scalp EEG for canine epilepsy under sedation with dexmedetomidine and to provide canine standard protocol. EEG of 29 epileptic dogs and 17 control dogs was recorded. Normal patterns, interictal epileptiform, and non-epileptiform abnormalities were interpreted using visual analysis by board-certified epileptologists. Results revealed that 34% of the dogs with epilepsy did not show discernible abnormalities on their EEG recordings. Approximately 38% of the epileptic dogs presented interictal epileptiform discharges, 28% had only non-epileptiform discharges, and 24% had both abnormalities. Sixteen of the control dogs had normal EEG pattern while one of them had non-epileptiform pattern. To identify the interictal epileptiform discharges, EEG had 37.93% sensitivity and 100% specificity for the epilepsy group compared with the normal dogs. The interictal scalp EEG, as a result, had high specificity for supporting the diagnosis of epilepsy in dogs. Moreover, administration of 5-8 mcg/kg of dexmedetomidine via the intravenous (IV) route was recommended for canine EEG study because it provided non-rapid eye movement (REM) sleep EEG, together with awake period in each tracing which was valuable for EEG interpretation. EEG, as a result, is one of the considerably useful tools to evaluate cerebral functions and epileptiform discharges. Therefore, our study suggested that EEG should be a routine diagnostic tool for ruling in canine epilepsy.