Abstract

Electroencephalogram (EEG) is a safe and widely used diagnostic test that records the brain’s spontaneous electrical activity. It helps detect potential brain anomalies with the highest utility in identification and characterization of seizure disorder. Artifacts frequently contaminate EEG record obscuring the underlying waveforms. Artifacts are signals not originating from the brain and are broadly classified as either physiological or non-physiological. Physiological artifacts arise from the patient and include cardiac, pulse, respiratory, eye movement, and muscle movement artifacts among others. Nonphysiological artifacts commonly arise from the patient’s surroundings. Electric line interference, electrode pop, cable movement and bad channel connection can all contaminate the record. We investigated non-physiological artifacts in the outpatient EEG laboratory of a tertiary care hospital in New Delhi and propose suggestions to reduce these artifacts to allow accurate interpretation of EEG record

Keywords

electroencephalography, non-physiological artifacts, mains interference, electrode pop, eeg laboratory