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Electroencephalography at the time of Covid-19 pandemic in Italy

OBJECTIVE: During the Covid-19 pandemic, government restrictions limited health care to urgent needs. Neurophysiology centers had to suddenly reschedule their activities, with a lack of specific recommendations about electroencephalography (EEG) execution. During the pandemic phase 1, we launched an...

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Autores principales: Assenza, Giovanni, Lanzone, Jacopo, Ricci, Lorenzo, Boscarino, Marilisa, Tombini, Mario, Galimberti, Carlo Andrea, Alvisi, Lara, Tassi, Laura, Broglia, Lidia, Di Lazzaro, Vincenzo, Mecarelli, Oriano
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer International Publishing 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7316521/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32588368
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10072-020-04546-8
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author Assenza, Giovanni
Lanzone, Jacopo
Ricci, Lorenzo
Boscarino, Marilisa
Tombini, Mario
Galimberti, Carlo Andrea
Alvisi, Lara
Tassi, Laura
Broglia, Lidia
Di Lazzaro, Vincenzo
Mecarelli, Oriano
author_facet Assenza, Giovanni
Lanzone, Jacopo
Ricci, Lorenzo
Boscarino, Marilisa
Tombini, Mario
Galimberti, Carlo Andrea
Alvisi, Lara
Tassi, Laura
Broglia, Lidia
Di Lazzaro, Vincenzo
Mecarelli, Oriano
author_sort Assenza, Giovanni
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVE: During the Covid-19 pandemic, government restrictions limited health care to urgent needs. Neurophysiology centers had to suddenly reschedule their activities, with a lack of specific recommendations about electroencephalography (EEG) execution. During the pandemic phase 1, we launched an online survey to understand the flaws and strengths of the EEG management in Italy at the time of Covid-19 pandemic. METHODS: A 45-item online survey (published from April 16 to 30, 2020), endorsed by the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology (SINC), the Italian League Against epilepsy (LICE), and the Italian Association of Neurophysiology technologists (AITN), collected EEG management data (EEG’s number and type, indications, personnel and patients safety, devices’ sanification) during the Covid-19 pandemic. RESULTS: We received responses from 206 centers. The number of EEGs performed was reduced by 76 ± 20%, and several types of specific EEG (video-EEG, ambulatory-EEG, LTM, polysomnography) were reduced at a minimum. Half of the centers performed inpatient EEGs only for urgencies. Repetitive seizures, encephalitis, and non-convulsive status epilepticus were the most common indications. Covid-19-positive patients received less EEG than negative ones (p < 0.0001). EEG requests came mainly not only from neurologists (n = 176) but also from general practitioners (n = 40), emergentists (n = 79), intensivists (n = 72), and other specialists (n = 53). Those centers which continued performing outpatient EEG examinations were instructed to perform the EEG after a Covid-19-related symptom screening for patients and using personal protective equipment (PPE) through all the procedure. Inpatient EEGs were performed using FFP2/FFP3 masks by neurophysiology technologists in only 50% of cases. Patients executed hyperventilation only for real clinical needs, but often (56%) with a mask. CONCLUSIONS: Italian neurophysiology centers strongly adhered to government restrictions of lockdown. Some issues emerged, ranging from the evaluation of a proper indication for EEG, technical procedures of EEG recording, and protection of neurophysiology technicians.
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spelling pubmed-73165212020-06-26 Electroencephalography at the time of Covid-19 pandemic in Italy Assenza, Giovanni Lanzone, Jacopo Ricci, Lorenzo Boscarino, Marilisa Tombini, Mario Galimberti, Carlo Andrea Alvisi, Lara Tassi, Laura Broglia, Lidia Di Lazzaro, Vincenzo Mecarelli, Oriano Neurol Sci Covid-19 OBJECTIVE: During the Covid-19 pandemic, government restrictions limited health care to urgent needs. Neurophysiology centers had to suddenly reschedule their activities, with a lack of specific recommendations about electroencephalography (EEG) execution. During the pandemic phase 1, we launched an online survey to understand the flaws and strengths of the EEG management in Italy at the time of Covid-19 pandemic. METHODS: A 45-item online survey (published from April 16 to 30, 2020), endorsed by the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology (SINC), the Italian League Against epilepsy (LICE), and the Italian Association of Neurophysiology technologists (AITN), collected EEG management data (EEG’s number and type, indications, personnel and patients safety, devices’ sanification) during the Covid-19 pandemic. RESULTS: We received responses from 206 centers. The number of EEGs performed was reduced by 76 ± 20%, and several types of specific EEG (video-EEG, ambulatory-EEG, LTM, polysomnography) were reduced at a minimum. Half of the centers performed inpatient EEGs only for urgencies. Repetitive seizures, encephalitis, and non-convulsive status epilepticus were the most common indications. Covid-19-positive patients received less EEG than negative ones (p < 0.0001). EEG requests came mainly not only from neurologists (n = 176) but also from general practitioners (n = 40), emergentists (n = 79), intensivists (n = 72), and other specialists (n = 53). Those centers which continued performing outpatient EEG examinations were instructed to perform the EEG after a Covid-19-related symptom screening for patients and using personal protective equipment (PPE) through all the procedure. Inpatient EEGs were performed using FFP2/FFP3 masks by neurophysiology technologists in only 50% of cases. Patients executed hyperventilation only for real clinical needs, but often (56%) with a mask. CONCLUSIONS: Italian neurophysiology centers strongly adhered to government restrictions of lockdown. Some issues emerged, ranging from the evaluation of a proper indication for EEG, technical procedures of EEG recording, and protection of neurophysiology technicians. Springer International Publishing 2020-06-26 2020 /pmc/articles/PMC7316521/ /pubmed/32588368 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10072-020-04546-8 Text en © Fondazione Società Italiana di Neurologia 2020 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic.
spellingShingle Covid-19
Assenza, Giovanni
Lanzone, Jacopo
Ricci, Lorenzo
Boscarino, Marilisa
Tombini, Mario
Galimberti, Carlo Andrea
Alvisi, Lara
Tassi, Laura
Broglia, Lidia
Di Lazzaro, Vincenzo
Mecarelli, Oriano
Electroencephalography at the time of Covid-19 pandemic in Italy
title Electroencephalography at the time of Covid-19 pandemic in Italy
title_full Electroencephalography at the time of Covid-19 pandemic in Italy
title_fullStr Electroencephalography at the time of Covid-19 pandemic in Italy
title_full_unstemmed Electroencephalography at the time of Covid-19 pandemic in Italy
title_short Electroencephalography at the time of Covid-19 pandemic in Italy
title_sort electroencephalography at the time of covid-19 pandemic in italy
topic Covid-19
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7316521/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32588368
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10072-020-04546-8
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