Wicket spikes: Clinical correlates of a previously undescribed EEG pattern

Abstract

From an analysis of the electroencephalograms of 4,458 patients who underwent recording during both wakefulness and sleep, through the years 1969 to 1975, wicket spikes recorded in 39 patients may be described as follows: They were found during both wakefulness and sleep, almost exclusively in adults. Their cardinal feature is a changing mode of occurrence through any single recording: from intermittent trains of more or less sustained, arciform, discharges resembling mu rhythm, to sporadic, unitary, single spikes. When occurring singly, wicket spikes can be mistaken for anterior or middle temporal spikes, since they predominate in either area, and since they share with them other characteristics such as amplitude (60 to 210 microvolts), polarity (surface negative) duration, and configuration. Wicket spikes should not be considered interictal abnormalities; they do not correlate with epilepsy or with any particular symptom complex.