Quantitative EEG (QEEG) in psychiatry: Diagnostic or prognostic use?

摘要

In July 2013 the FDA approved marketing of the 'first brain wave test to help assess children and teens for ADHD'^ which is commercialized by NEBA.2 This brain wave test employs the often-published Theta/Beta ratio obtained from the EEG and this milestone has generated significant debate about its veracity, clinical utility and scalability. Most of the media referred to it as a first brain test to diagnose children with ADHD. So should we be positive or cautious about this . unprecedented endorsement of EEG into the psychiatric diagnostic process? Or perhaps a bit of both? On one hand it finally heralds an FDA sanctioned objective biological brain marker into Psychiatry and Pediatrics, which will hopefully be exemplar of more to come. On the other hand it may inadvertently be over-used simplistically as a diagnostic tool.