AEEG is video and brain wave recording that is placed by SleepMed / DigiTrace Ambulatory EEG technologists.
An AEEG is a test of brainwaves over one to many days while at home! The standard EEG shows activity of the brain during a 20-40 test. Old AEEGs were of such poor quality that they were not very helpful, but I have used AEEGs from DigiTrace with their excellent quality for years now.
I use this when the standard brief EEG does not give enough information such as when the seizures are thought to be during sleep. When this is the concern, we can bring you into the hospital to have monitoring or have you get the EEG hooked up and then spend a day and night (or 2 or 3) at home while the recording is being done. All stages of sleep and the time during waking up will be recorded. For those whose spells always occur in the early morning or at night, this is the best way to get the information without time in the hospital. Even better is the knowledge that the study quality is as good or better than the quality we get in the hospital for standard prolonged Video EEGs)
I often use this study to gear the success of anti-epileptic medication therapy in those who seem to have seizures without convulsions. Recording for a day or more will give an estimate of how frequently seizures are occurring. This is especially important when you are more forgetful or have poor learning - so many people with epilepsy have seizures that are hard to see or to feel, that it is often unclear if the forgetfulness is due to uncontrolled seizures or to other causes (like inadequate sleep....)
I have found that this testing is also very important when a behavior is seen in you or your child that may be seizure or may be non-epileptic activity. 40% of children with Autism have epilepsy. This high percentage leads many parents and physicians to be on alert for behaviors that may be seizures without convulsion. With Video EEG we can be more confident that we are accurate in our assessment of the behaviors.
To be clear: the service that Dr. Stein (and other doctors) provide is both knowing when to order this test, getting the test covered by insurance if coverage is an issue, and interpetting the test once performed. The test is performed using the patented system owned by SleepMed / DigiTrace. Scheduling and information available from SleepMed.