Find out what happens when your child is admitted for a video EEG in the epilepsy monitoring unit.
Key points
A session in the epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) lasts three to five days and allows your child's team to record their brain activity and behaviour during a seizure.
During the session, your child will be asked to do different activities while EEG electrodes on their scalp are attached to a special video EEG machine.
Your child will be carefully monitored by their care team. You can also stay with your child in the EMU.
You can discuss the EMU results with your child's doctor about four to six weeks after the session.
Introduction
After an EEG, the next step to prepare your child for surgery is to have an epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) session in the hospital. Your child’s team will give you a date to go to the hospital and your child will be admitted as an inpatient for a few nights.
The EMU session will last three to five days, depending on how often your child has a seizure.
About the test
Why does my child need a session in the EMU?
The aim of an EMU session is to capture the electrical activity in your child’s brain during a seizure.
Child prepped for epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) session.
During the session, the electrical activity in your child’s brain will be measured using a special EEG machine that is connected to a video camera and a microphone. This allows your child’s doctors to match the wavy lines on the EEG with your child’s behaviour to try and find out exactly where seizures begin in their brain.
The EMU is a controlled and safe environment to record your child’s typical seizures. The doctors and nurses are there to help control your child’s seizures with fast-acting anti-seizure medication.
Risks of the test
Does the test have any risks or side effects?
Your child will not experience risks or side effects from the EMU session. However, there is a risk that your child may have several seizures during their stay.
Please be assured that the EMU is a safe environment where doctors, nurses and technologists can help your child quickly when needed.
Preparing for the test
How do I prepare my child for an EMU session?
Explain what will happen during the EMU session in words your child understands.
Pack enough changes of clothes for three to five days and some enjoyable activities (such as colouring books, movies, video games or music) to keep your child entertained while they are in the hospital.
Make sure your child’s hair is freshly washed. Check for any signs of head lice and tell the nurse at the hospital if you see anything.
To help the EEG electrodes stay in place on your child’s scalp, do not use conditioner or styling products in your child's hair after you wash it.
Test
What happens when my child arrives for the EMU session?
Once your child is admitted to the EMU, an EEG technologist will measure and mark your child’s scalp with a wax pencil so they know where to place the electrodes.
The technologist will clean the marked areas on your child's head with a gel and use special skin glue called collodion to attach the electrodes to your child's scalp. The glue keeps the electrodes on your child’s scalp for several days while your child is awake and asleep.
The technologist will then connect the electrodes to the special video EEG machine in the EMU room.
What happens during the EMU session?
The EEG electrodes on your child’s scalp will be attached to a special video EEG machine, which will record the EEG brain wave patterns, video and sound activity.
Just as in a routine EEG, the technologist may ask your child to do different activities, such as:
breathing deeply for three minutes
opening and closing their eyes
watching flashing bright lights for a few minutes
having the test while sleepy or asleep.
These activities stimulate different types of brain activity, which in turn create different types of EEG patterns. They also make a seizure more likely, which helps your child’s team identify specific seizure causes.
The video EEG should generally not hurt, but your child may feel some pain from the EEG electrodes pulling on their hair or may experience skin irritation from the special glue.
Epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU) roomAn EMU room is set up with a camera and computer to capture your child’s seizures.
May I stay with my child during the EMU session?
The EMU is a
care-by-parent unit, which means you can stay with your child during the EMU session. Your child will also be closely monitored by nurses and doctors.
After the test
What should I expect after an EMU stay?
Once your child’s team has captured your child’s typical seizure and checked the quality of the recordings, the electrodes will be removed from your child’s scalp. Your child will then be released from the EMU.
Your child’s hair may be a little sticky from the special glue. You can easily wash it away with shampoo and water.
Follow-up care
When will I get the test results?
Your doctor will receive the EMU test results and discuss them with you and your child at a follow-up appointment within four to six weeks.
At SickKids
If your doctor has told you that your child needs a sedative (medicine to keep them calm) to put on the EEG wires, a nurse from the neurophysiology department will contact you with instructions on when your child needs to stop eating and drinking before being admitted to the EMU.
If the EMU is booked without arranging a sedative, but you think your child will need it, please contact the neurophysiology department one week before the appointment at 416-813-6297.
