ABSTRACT
What use is electroencephalography (EEG) in the diagnosis of dementia? This question seems deceptively simple, but despite many years of research and hundreds of papers published on this topic the role of the EEG in the diagnosis and assessment of dementia is still controversial. The widely differing opinions on the usefulness of the EEG in dementia are reflected in the way the EEG is dealt with in the various consensus texts on dementia diagnosis. For instance, while a Scandinavian consensus text recommends to record an EEG in all subjects with suspected dementia, the US text does not even mention EEG as a possible laboratory test.1,2 Given this lack of consensus and the enormous and rapidly growing literature on the topic, the clinician is faced with the difficult questions of whether the EEG will be of any use in assessing patients who present with cognitive complaints and what is the optimal way to use the EEG in this category of patients. This chapter is intended to address this question, and to suggest a practical approach to the use of EEG in dementia diagnosis. First, EEG findings in normal aging and various types of dementia are discussed. Next, a practical approach to EEG diagnosis in dementia is presented. Finally, new developments and future perspectives are briefly addressed.
