Immediate release of critical results of electroencephalography at Yokohama City University Medical Center

<p>Clinical laboratories are required to notify clinicians of critical laboratory levels and abnormal findings that affect patients’ prognoses. However, the immediate release of critical results of electroencephalography (EEG) depends on each laboratory, and little has been reported on this issue by clinical laboratories. We established the criteria for critical results of EEG when we satisfied the requirements for ISO 15189 (International Organization for Standardization Clinical Laboratories - Requirements for Quality and Competence). We immediately released 143 critical results of EEG from April 2015 to March 2022 at our hospital. The frequency of the immediate release of critical results was higher for patients with EEG performed in the ward than in the laboratory where many outpatients were included. Nonconvulsive status epilepticus (NCSE) and convulsive status epilepticus accounted for more than half of the cases with the immediate release of critical results, and the departments that had those results were the Advanced Critical Care and Emergency Center, Department of Neurology, and Cardiovascular Center, in which critically ill patients were admitted. Among 56 patients with NCSE, although the consciousness level had improved in 21 patients, 12 patients died and 23 showed no improvement in their consciousness level. Additionally, some patients were able to maintain their quality of life because we immediately reported the condition of the patients or their EEG results, which doctors did not expect, on the basis of our criteria of critical results. According to our investigation, the immediate release of critical results from EEG technicians may enable early treatment intervention and contribute to improving neurological prognosis.</p>