Current Techniques and Engineering Opportunities for Advancement and Improvement in Electroencephalographic Acquisition and Analyses

Abstract

Epilepsy is a highly prevalent condition and affects about 50-65 million people worldwide with great impact on health and quality of life, including medical and social aspects. Electroencephalography (EEG) represents the main diagnostic approach to evaluate patients with epilepsy. EEG techniques have achieved significant improvement over the years and keep evolving to meet increasing demands such as higher accuracy, innovation and better quality and technique to enable improved diagnosis and treatment of epilepsy and other conditions. We use this paper to discuss current techniques and future opportunities for advancement of different types of EEG and various aspects of its use, along with avenues for improving EEG related engineering and technology. We wish to enumerate various aspects of EEG hardware and capturing techniques to discuss opportunities for improvement, along with detailing the utility of software advances including quantitative EEG and EEG analyses. We also aim to discuss neurostimulation and its role in advancing the management of epilepsy. Finally, we also discuss the use of EEG in non-epilepsy conditions. We aim to showcase current capabilities and expand on these to describe opportunities for advancement in diagnosis and management using EEG for a variety of indications. Our paper seeks to detail various aspects of EEG advancement that can improve overall patient care and research.