Dataset Information

Exclusion of the Possibility of "False Ripples" From Ripple Band High-Frequency Oscillations Recorded From Scalp Electroencephalogram in Children With Epilepsy.

ABSTRACT:

Aim

Ripple-band epileptic high-frequency oscillations (HFOs) can be recorded by scalp electroencephalography (EEG), and tend to be associated with epileptic spikes. However, there is a concern that the filtration of steep waveforms such as spikes may cause spurious oscillations or "false ripples." We excluded such possibility from at least some ripples by EEG differentiation, which, in theory, enhances high-frequency signals and does not generate spurious oscillations or ringing.

Methods

The subjects were 50 pediatric patients, and ten consecutive spikes during sleep were selected for each patient. Five hundred spike data segments were initially reviewed by two experienced electroencephalographers using consensus to identify the presence or absence of ripples in the ordinary filtered EEG and an associated spectral blob in time-frequency analysis (Session A). These EEG data were subjected to numerical differentiation (the second derivative was denoted as EEG″). The EEG″ trace of each spike data segment was shown to two other electroencephalographers who judged independently whether there were clear ripple oscillations or uncertain ripple oscillations or an absence of oscillations (Session B).

Results

In Session A, ripples were identified in 57 spike data segments (Group A-R), but not in the other 443 data segments (Group A-N). In Session B, both reviewers identified clear ripples (strict criterion) in 11 spike data segments, all of which were in Group A-R (p < 0.0001 by Fisher's exact test). When the extended criterion that included clear and/or uncertain ripples was used in Session B, both reviewers identified 25 spike data segments that fulfilled the criterion: 24 of these were in Group A-R (p < 0.0001).

Discussion

We have demonstrated that real ripples over scalp spikes exist in a certain proportion of patients. Ripples that were visualized consistently using both ordinary filters and the EEG″ method should be true, but failure to clarify ripples using the EEG″ method does not mean that true ripples are absent.

Conclusion

The numerical differentiation of EEG data provides convincing evidence that HFOs were detected in terms of the presence of such unusually fast oscillations over the scalp and the importance of this electrophysiological phenomenon.

SUBMITTER: Kobayashi K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8239160 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Objective: We examined the interrater reliability and generalizability of high-frequency oscillation (HFO) visual evaluations in the ripple (80-250 Hz) band, and established a framework for the transition of HFO analysis to routine clinical care. We were interested in the interrater reliability or epoch generalizability to describe how similar the evaluations were between reviewers, and in the reviewer generalizability to represent the consistency of the internal threshold each individual reviewer. Methods: We studied 41 adult epilepsy patients (mean age: 35.6 years) who underwent intracranial electroencephalography. A morphology detector was designed and used to detect candidate HFO events, lower-threshold events, and distractor events. These events were subsequently presented to six expert reviewers, who visually evaluated events for the presence of HFOs. Generalizability theory was used to characterize the epoch generalizability (interrater reliability) and reviewer generalizability (internal threshold consistency) of visual evaluations, as well as to project the numbers of epochs, reviewers, and datasets required to achieve strong generalizability (threshold of 0.8). Results: The reviewer generalizability was almost perfect (0.983), indicating there were sufficient evaluations to determine the internal threshold of each reviewer. However, the interrater reliability for 6 reviewers (0.588) and pairwise interrater reliability (0.322) were both poor, indicating that the agreement of 6 reviewers is insufficient to reliably establish the presence or absence of individual HFOs. Strong interrater reliability (≥0.8) was projected as requiring a minimum of 17 reviewers, while strong reviewer generalizability could be achieved with <30 epoch evaluations per reviewer. Significance: This study reaffirms the poor reliability of using small numbers of reviewers to identify HFOs, and projects the number of reviewers required to overcome this limitation. It also provides a set of tools which may be used for training reviewers, tracking changes to interrater reliability, and for constructing a benchmark set of epochs that can serve as a generalizable gold standard, against which other HFO detection algorithms may be compared. This study represents an important step toward the reconciliation of important but discordant findings from HFO studies undertaken with different sets of HFOs, and ultimately toward transitioning HFO analysis into a meaningful part of the clinical epilepsy workup.