The value of electroencephalography features in the prognostic evaluation of large hemispheric infarction patients at different time intervals

Large Hemispheric Infarction (LHI) is a devastating disease with high mortality. This study aimed to use electroencephalography (EEG) to evaluate the death risk of LHI patients and identify suitable evaluation time.

This study retrospectively collected clinical and EEG data from 73 LHI patients, dividing them into death and survival group at discharge. EEG data was classified as 1–5 days and 6–14 days after onset according to the time intervals of cerebral edema. Regression and receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) analysis were applied to explore the impact of temporal changes in various EEG and clinical features on death.

The areas under ROC curve (AUC) of death prediction for non-α frequency on non-infarct side at 6–14 days after onset was significantly higher than that at 1–5 days (p = 0.004). And there was no significant difference between the AUC of seizure activity for death prediction at 1–5 days and 6–14 days (p = 0.418). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that non-α frequency on non-infarct side and seizure activity at 6–14 days after onset were the independent risk factors for the death of LHI patients. Additionally, above two EEG features significantly improved the death predictive efficacy of clinical features in LHI patients with the integrated discrimination improvement index (IDI) of 0.174 (p = 0.015) and the net reclassification improvement (NRI) of 1.314 (p<0.001).

Non-α frequency on non-infarct side and seizure activity were reliable indicators for death prediction. 6–14 days after onset was the better time window for death evaluation of LHI patients through EEG.