Overview
What makes Pediatric EEG testing so special at Holy Name?
- Our program is staffed by a BOARD CERTIFIED EEG and Evoked Potentials Technician.
- Holy Name is the only facility in northern New Jersey where sedation is not routinely used for EEGs and other neurological tests performed on young children and infants.
- All pediatric EEGs are read by Board Certified Neurologists.
- Comprehensive reports are sent to the referring physician.
- We pledge our time, efforts and energy to strive for EEG records of exceptional quality.
- Accurate, Safe Pediatric EEG Testing
- Highly sensitive monitoring equipment requires that a child keep still during testing, so children are usually sedated with medication, often too heavily. The effects of medication may include grogginess, crankiness, and unsteadiness, and can last for hours or all day.
By law, children sedated with medication must have vital signs continuously monitored for potentially harmful or dangerous side effects.
Sedative medication alters brain activity and may block the normal or abnormal patterns doctors are trying to intercept. With Holy Name Medical Center's drug-free testing, the child is alert after the test, or in a natural, restful sleep.
Parents are given special instructions to produce a naturally drowsy state in the child, the best state for testing. The parents awaken the child early. The technicians spend time getting acquainted through play activities to make the experience as pleasant as possible for the child, and parents are encouraged to stay with the child during testing. Some children will cry, but we help them through it. Children old enough to understand can touch the electrodes and other equipment, and a doll may be used to demonstrate the procedure.
The following may indicate the need for the Pediatric EEG Program at Holy Name Medical Center:
- seizures
- epilepsy
- abnormal behavior
- fainting
- trauma
- prior unsuccessful testing elsewhere
